The Saving Eliot Job
by D890
Summary: What happens to the Leverage team when ghosts of enemies past come out of the woodwork to haunt them? What happens when their hitter is taken from their grasp? What happens when they go looking for him? What happens when they find him?
1. Chapter 1

Saving Eliot

Chapter One

_No One Knows What It's Like_

_To Be The Bad Man_

_To Be The Sad Man_

_-Behind Blue Eyes-_

_-The Who-_

Roughly 3:00 AM on September 7th, 2011 - A Wednesday

It was three in the morning and Eliot had just finished working out in his current safehouse's spare room, which he'd recently converted into a makeshift gym. He was in need of a shower, so he stripped off his sweaty white wife-beater, but left his jeans on for now. He ran his fingers through his hair and stretched his arms over his head to help ease the ache of his overworked muscles. He was hungry first, then he'd shower; then maybe he'd catch an hour or so of some much needed rest.

As Eliot walked into the large kitchen to forage some breakfast, he glanced out the large picture window over the sink area that looked out over the backyard. The storm outside seemed to be getting worse, he thought as he took in the rain spattered glass. He watched as the lightning flashed briefly and it seemed the wind was picking up as well. It was probably going to be a hell of a storm before it was finished.

Eliot had grown up in the Midwest and was no stranger to bad weather, especially thunderstorms. He'd been through a tornado or two living in rural Oklahoma, which was right up Tornado Alley. This weather was nothing to him, but he knew Bostonians may not feel the same about it. Eliot smiled broadly as he remembered a time when he'd been around thirteen and his mamma Mary, had found him standing on the back porch of their home watching the huge funnel cloud that was heading their way. He had just been standing there watching; the cloud had been so damned mesmerizing.

His mamma had been mad as a wet hen, his father had recounted later. When re-telling the story, Eliot's dad told of how she'd herded her eldest boy down the basement stairs and to safety. She'd given him hell for a month after that about scarin' the crap outta her and she'd threatened everyday to tan his hide if he ever did anything fool crazy like that ever again. He actually chuckled out loud at the memories of that month. It'd been hell; his mamma had been on him every minute of every hour.

Eliot could laugh now at the memory of just how upset she'd been at seeing him just standing there watchng the huge monster twister heading right for them. He knew his mamma was strength personified, but whenever a tornado came into the picture, the woman became a nervous wreck. Until that day, Eliot had not known that her father, his grandfather, had been killed while standing outside the cellar watching a similar storm cloud threatening his family.

The man had been swept away and he'd never been found. Eliot sobered at the thought of just how sad his mother must have felt at losing her father. She had been an only child and her father had been her hero; her white knight. That's what Eliot remembered his mother always telling him when she would talk about her father.

Eliot once saw the movie, _Twister, _and couldn't help thinking the scene where Helen Hunt lost her father as a child was exactly how it must have happened for his mamma. He'd never watched that movie again.

He'd felt bad after that incident with his mamma and hadn't wanted to cause her to worry, so he'd sworn to her that he'd never be that reckless with his life ever again. At least Eliot had kept that promise to her for four years; right up until he'd lost her when a drunk driver had hit her car head on. That crash took not only his mother, but his younger brother Eli, and his baby sister Lizzie, as well. Eliot had lost a lot that day and he'd sworn he would never let that kind of hurt happen to him ever again.

He'd worked in his father's hardware store every day after that to try and keep his father from hittin' the bottle himself in an effort to squash the demons he saw every night when he closed his eyes. His father Jack, had taken his mother's death hard and it basically became Eliot's job to watch over himself and his remaining sister, his twin, Emma. She was older than him by all of two minutes, but she loved to remind him of the fact she was still the oldest.

Eliot had taken care of both his dad and Emma until he just couldn't do it anymore. Once he'd graduated from high school he joined the military and had gotten out of there. It wasn't home for him anymore. It had stopped being home the day his mamma took her last breath on this earth. He'd left everyone; his father, his sister, even Aimee.

He'd found out later that Aimee and her family had moved to Kentucky when her father had become a fairly sought after horse trainer. Eliot had seen her for the first time in eight years about three years ago when his team had helped her and her father with Baltimore and Kentucky Thunder. He'd done his best to let her know he was sorry he'd left her before, and he'd said his formal goodbye to her then. H'd done the best he coud do to make sure she understood it wasn't her fault, and he was moving on from that part of his life.

He'd also tried to make up for leaving his sister as well. Eliot tried to keep in touch with her more now; if you could call dropping an email or text every few months keeping in touch. Again, he was doing the best he could to mend things with his family; but there was still one person he had yet to deal with.

Eliot hadn't spoken to his father since the night he'd left his home to report for basic. He'd fought bitterly with the man that night and a lot of things were said between the two of them that Eliot knew could never be unsaid. He wished sometimes things could have been different with his father, but he had made peace with the fact he had tried hard to reach out to the man during the time after losing his mother. He had tried, he thought. He really had; it just felt like sometimes maybe he hadn't tried hard enough. Maybe someday he'd have a chance to try again.

He sighed as he turned from the window to reach into his fridge for the eggs and milk. Eliot wanted French Toast. He loved French Toast; his one indulgence of something sweet he allowed himself to enjoy. But this wasn't any gourmet French Toast; no this was the good old-fashioned bread soaked powder sugar ooey-gooey sticky messy French Toast his mamma had made every Sunday when he was growing up. No, it was nowhere near anything gourmet, it was just down home family cooking and he loved it because it reminded him of his mom and of home before things had all gone bad.

Eliot would never let anyone know, especially Parker whom he was always riding about eating her sugar coated cereals and downing fortune cookies; just how much he loved it. Hee felt under the circustances of his current memories invading his thoughts that he needed a good feeling, and so he neede French Toast.

Moving over to set the milk and eggs on the counter near the stove, he reached up into the cabinet for the bowl he like to use most often for mixing things; when he suddenly felt something wasn't quite right in his world. Call it a hunch or his spidey sense as Hardison had started calling it, but Eliot had been bred to know when something wasn't right. And with the way the hairs were standing on end on the back of his neck, he knew deep down it was bad; really bad. He slowly turned back to the window in time to just make out the soft glow coming from one of the trees in his backyard.

Just seconds before the window exploded from the bullets penetrating it, Eliot had one coherent thought. Oh shit; they'd found him. Then he felt the pull of the first bullet as it entered his body and he felt the slam of the second one as he was propelled backwards from the counter dragging the milk and mixing bowl with him as his body fell to the floor.

Eliot distinctly felt the pull of the bullets as they tore through his body pulling apart muscle and bone to lodge deep in his upper chest. He felt the wetness of the milk under his side as the milk bottle exploded when it hit the floor. At least he thought it was the milk. It couldn't be blood; not yet. As he felt his body still from his impact with the floor he was aware of another sensation; the bullets. Eliot could actually _feel _the bullets inside him.

He knew he was in trouble, big trouble. He turned his head slowly to look up at the counter top where he'd set his cell phone down in his preparations of breakfast and knew in that instant there was no way he was going to be able to reach it. Eliot's last sight before the darkness claimed him were of the two men coming through his kitchen's back door armed with heavy assault weapons and wearing military gear. Yep, he thought; they'd definitely found him. They'd finally found Eliot Spencer.

Damn it, he should have completed the work on the house by installing the damned security system and the bullet proof glass on the kitchen's one window. Eliot had been too busy with the team's last few jobs going back to back, that he'd put the jobs off till he'd have more time; but now it was too late, he'd been discovered. He knew better than to let something like this happen. It was sloppy; he'd been sloppy.

Eliot watched as one of the men moved over to him as if in slow motion and kneel down by Eliot's head. The man seemed to be saying something, but Eliot was finding it hard to understand him at first.

"Hello Mr. White Hat..." The voice echoed in Eliot's head as he slowly gave in to the blackness that now claimed him body and soul.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly 6:00 AM

Nate Ford sat on the stool in McCrory's bar staring down at the glass of scotch cradled in his hands. It was taunting him, he thought. He had know that for him, today would be one of the hardest he'd have to deal with, but he'd always been able to lose himself in the bottle every year before.

Every year, he mused. Yeah, every year when this day rolled around he spent it knee deep in the nearest bottle he could find. Today it was the scotch. He frowned at the amber liquid, and heaved a deep sigh of desperation.

Today was the anniversary of the day Nate's life had been changed forever. It was five years ao today, September 7th. Five years since Nathan Ford had lost his son; five long years since Sam had died.

Nate knew his team wanted him to stop drinking, especially Sophie and Eliot, but they didn't understand just how much this sweet slow burning goodness kept him functioning from one day to the next. They didn't understand that he needed to keep going. They didn't understand how hard it was to face his demons every single day. The didn't understand how drinkng really did help no matter how dependent he had become on this crutch in a bottle. They just did not understand.

It had been almost a year since the group had put Damien Moreau away on that job they'd done for the Italian, and they were just coming off the job of helping Sterling of all people; that ass of a human. Nate chuckled lightly to himself as the thought of James Sterling. The man had used them, but Nate could understand after finding out the man had done it for his daughter. She was young; but she was older than Sam would have been if he were alive. Thirteen; Sam would have been thirteen this year.

A teenager with nothing to worry about other than school and girls. But Nate had been robbed of seeing his son grow into a man by Ian Blackpoole and all of those other asses at IYS. Nate had to shake himself to force the images of that man from his brain. The last thing he wanted to think about today was the man responsible for taking his son away from him. He turned to see the sun was just beginning to come up outside the bar's front windows. He looked down at his wristwatch. A little after six in the morning; a brand new day. A nice day considering the storm that had passed through a few hours earlier. This day promised blue skies and falling leaves and the last throes of a late summer. Yet it was still the anniversary day of his son's death and that alone took away all the beauty he should have felt for a new day.

God he wished Sophie was here right now; or Eliot. Sophie would guilt him through this day and Eliot would goad him through it. Sophie was forever pushing the bottle out of his reach any way she could and Eliot would just sit there next to him and give Nate that look and that growl that told him he needed to face this day instead of hiding in a stupid bottle of overpriced alcohol when a beer was better than that stuff any day.

But Sophie had been tired from a long day of scouting out the mark on their new job, and Eliot... well, El had said he needed a few hours of downtime to recoup from the back to back jobs they'd taken on lately. Neither were here to push Nate away from this glass in front of him.

It was no secret to the team that during the weeks leading up to and sometimes after Sam's death anniversary that Nate tended to either lose himself in the bootle or get deeply involved in a job. The team didn't seem to mind the work, it kept them all on their toes, but Sophie had been a bit more subdued lately. More so than usual it seemed. Especially since they'd come out with their relationship to the rest of the team. They'd both enjoyed their secret time, but they knew team needed to know what was going on in case it ever became a problem during a job.

So far it really hadn't, but that didn't stop them from focusing in on the fact that Nate was a little more protective of Sophie than before. Nate smiled though, as he thought about that. Sophie had become very important to him and that only meant she'd become more important to the team. Knowing now that Nate's attention could be easily diverted if something happened with Sophie put the others all on a higher alert to make sure the jobs didn't turn bad.

And they'd all done their very best to protect both Nate and Sophie without really showing that's what they were doing. Especially Eliot. Eliot, Nate thought with a smile. The man was so deep it was scary. To most people, they didn't look much past his gruff exterior, but his team - no, wait - his _family, _knew him to be the most fiercely loyal member of their team. Eliot found himself to be their protector and he took that role very seriously. Sure he'd lied to them, by omission about his connection to Damien Moreau, but he'd done so to protect them. He'd known exactly what Moreau was capabe of doing to them, so he'd done his job. He'd protected them for as long as he could.

No matter what the odds, Eliot would throw himself on the gauntlet everytime if it meant his team walked away safe and sound; and they were always safe as long as Eliot was there to watch their backs. Nate looked down again into his drink as he mused over the way Eliot, as well as Parker and Hardison, had now sort of become his kids, so to speak. Nate was responsible for their being a part of the team now even if he hadn't been the one to select them in the beginning. He was just as protective of them and he really took his role as a father figure to them to heart. They had needed him just as much as he had needed them, in the beginning, but now... well, now Nate Ford knew he couldn't go on without them in his life.

He smiled again, somewhat sardonically as he slowly realized that he may have lost Sam, but he would always have the memories of his son and in some ways he now had two more sons... and a daughter. A crazy bunch, but family none the less. He slowly pushed the drink aside as he reached for a coffee cup instead. He thought maybe he just needed to start his day with coffee instead as he looked again outside the window to see that the sun was slowly beginning to stream into the bar.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Still Roughly 6:00 AM

Detective Captain Patrick Bonanno looked around the mess of a crime scene as he slowly followed one of his CSI guys through the house. It was a shambles. The car bomb on the Chevy pickup truck that was now mostly in pieces in the attached garage had also reeked havoc on the house itself.

The living room of the home which was on the garage side had probably sustained the most damage he'd ever seen at a bomb site. The wall that shared the living room space with the garage was gone. Literaly gone. The front bay window was blown out and the wood framework hung in pieces letting the rain outside slowly seep into the room's carpeting. The storm was mostly easing up now as dawn approached and two of his men were busy putting up a tarp to try and preserve as much evidence as possible from the rain.

But it was the kitchen that showed the most evidence that something really bad had happened in this home. The huge picture window over the sink area showed the evidence of two bullet holes and there was a huge blood pool on the floor below the area. He guessed there had to be at least two or three pints on the floor. That was a lot of blood for someone to lose and still be alive, he thought. He didn't know his math that well, but he knew 40 percent of your body's blood was too much to lose and expect to survive.

There were smear marks as if the person who had been injured had either tried to crawl to safety or perhaps had been dragged towards the living room to get to the adjoining door to the garage. The smear continued across the carpeting from the kitchen's stone flooring, but it ended just at the door.

The steps down into the garage held some droplets of blood, but no more smears were found. Whoever made it this far had either been lifted or had somehow been able to regain his footing and the detective felt very strongly that this injured person could not have possibly been able to do that on his own.

He firgured the person may have tried to make it to the truck in an effort to escape whatever danger was after him, but the detective knew the person hadn't made it past these steps on his own and therefore he could not have triggered the pressure device found on the bomb on his own. There was evidence that someone had died in the bombing though, and if it had been the injured man, then he was certaily dead now, because the garage was painted with the remains of someone. Blood, bone and tissue clung to all surfaces out there as well as some bits that had blown into the living room when the wall had basically disappeared during the blast.

Det. Bonanno knew someone had helped the victim to the truck and they had somehow triggered the bomb remotely. While there was a lot of carnage, his CSI guy David, was adamant that there was only one victim based on what evidence he'd collected so far.

He sighed as he took in everything his guy was telling him and pointing out about what he felt actually occurred in this house. The victim had been shot in the kitchen as detailed by the bullet shattered glass window and based on the blood loss, he most likely expired there. From there the body had been moved to the garage and placed in the truck; Eliot Spencer's truck.

Bonanno sighed again as he took in the carnage and the reality that most likely the remains were those of his friend, Eliot. He reached into his pocket as he carefully made hs way outside into the early morning just as the sun was working on breaking through the dense clouds.

"Ford here." Came the somewhat laid back reply.

"Nate? It's Det. Capt. Bonanno."

"Det. Capt.? This must be all business if you're announcing yourself as a cop before you even say good morning, Pat."

The detective heaved another heavy sigh that could clearly be heard through the phone. "Yeah, so it would seem this is all business."

"What can I do for you then, Det. Capt. Bonanno?" Nate asked as he wondered why the man would be calling him this early.

"Actually... I think I'm gonna need you to come to me. I'm at a crime scene and I need you to answer some questions for me." He paused as he looked towards Eliot's garage. "Some hard questions."

Nate took that in. He knew something was wrong; something bad had happened. He felt it in his bones, and what's more he knew one of his family was involved. "Which one is it?" He asked afraid of hearing the answer.

The detective wasn't surprised that Nate would know instinctively this involved his team. "It's... it's Eliot." He drew in a deep breath before he continued. "I'm at his house on Wallace Lane... and it's... it's bad, Nate."

Nate swallowed at the lump suddenly developing in his throat. Not Eliot. Of all his team, his family, Eliot was the last one he could handle losing right now. The man was supposed to be invincible and if he went down then Eliot had went down hard; and it was highly possible once he went down that hard, he wasn't going to get back up again. Not today, God, he prayed. Of all the days, not today. "Is... is... how... how bad?" He managed to ask, although he feared the worst, he continued to pray.

Patrick Bonanno looked up at the new late summer morning dawning as the birds were chirping away in the nearby trees. Eliot had a lot of trees on his property, he thought as he ran this through his mind. "It's... it's as bad as it gets." He replied. "It seems Eliot was attacked and shot early this morning and somehow his truck was blown up in the process. It looks like it was rigged with explosives beforehand. It seems he's... well, he's dead, Nate."

"I'll be there in five." Nate Ford replied softly as he felt that familiar pain in his heart again. Five years ago Nate had lost his son to cancer and today he'd lost another to his past. Someone had taken Eliot from him and he didn't know if he could handle another hit, not today. "I'll be there in five minutes." He repeated as he hung up his phone and slipped it back in his pocket.

AN: I hope I've got you hooked!


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

_No One Knows What It's Like_

_To Be Hated_

_To Be Fated_

_To Telling Only Lies_

Same day 6:30 AM

Nate slowly pulled up to the location of Eliot's house and parked his Mercedes behind the SUV he knew was Detective Bonanno's. He sat for a moment taking in all the squad cars and other official looking vehicles parked all along the street in front of the house. He didn't want to do this, he thought. He could see the house was missing the garage from where he sat, and there was a lot of damage to the yard as well as the driveway. There was still a fire truck parked haphazardly in the driveway and the crew was working on pulling debris from what was left of the garage.

He couldn't believe the amount of damage he was seeing; whoever had done this had been a professional. They had wanted to create chaos and damage, but not too much damage. Whoever had done this had wanted this to be seen and reported to the police; and Nate knew that could only mean they wanted the cops and possibly him and his team to know Eliot was dead.

He didn't want to believe that, but he couldn't see how anyone could have survived this blast from the damage he was seeing. He didn't think he could go into that house; didn't think he could stand to see what he might see. This was Eliot's place, and he was the most private person on the team. He would hate seeing all of this going on at his place, safe house or not. Eliot would be pissed that the detective was letting so many people walk through his house even if it was now a crime scene.

Nate knew they wouldn't find much personal stuff in the house though. Eliot didn't keep much in a safe house other than essentials. None of them did. They all had apartments in the building Hardison owned over the bar and they kept a lot of their personal things there. Close to Nate; close to home.

He slowly got out of his car pocketing his keys and walked up to the detective who was standing outside on the front porch inspecting what was left of the front window. Nate hadn't realized just how much damage the house had actually sustained. He'd been so focused on what was left of the garage that he'd missed the damage done to the rest of the place. The bomb must have created a lot more damage on the inside from what he was seeing here on the outside.

"Hello Nate." The detective greeted him. "I'm sorry I had to call you on this." And Nate knew he meant it. He knew that Nate and his team handled jobs that were not entirely above board as far as legal went, but he also knew that they did a lot of good in this world and he truly hated having this conversation with the mastermind, especially about Eliot; but he needed answers if he wanted to find out who was behind this and… well, he needed to be sure they could put Eliot to rest.

"Hey detective. What exactly happened here?" Nate asked, trying hard not to focus on the remains of the window and the living room that he could see from where he was standing next to the policeman.

"We're not really sure. All I know is pretty much what I told you on the phone. My CSI guys discovered some broken branches in one of the trees in the backyard. They think a sniper was sitting in the tree waiting and fired through the kitchen window once Eliot came into view. He was shot and somehow he made it to the garage where his vehicle blew up. I've got other officers canvassing the neighborhood, but with the houses spaced so far apart out here, not many heard or saw anything." The detective answered pointing to the closest house across the street. "The Wilsons there are the only close neighbors and they're both in their eighties. They know Eliot as well as one can, and they love the boy in fact. He does a lot to help them out. Mrs. Wilson is convinced Eliot is a saint." He chuckled as he remembered her statement when he'd questioned the couple just barely ten minutes ago. "But they're both going deaf and they didn't hear anything until they saw the fire and that's when they called the fire department. That was around five this morning." He said reading from his notepad.

"Your guys are sure that it was a sniper in the trees?"

"Yeah. There were broken branches and debris."

Nate looked at the other man. "The storm could have caused the broken branches, how can you be so sure it wasn't from the storm?"

"Because they found some distinctive scrape marks that they think were made by boot spikes like a repairman wears to scale telephone poles. They found them on only one tree and that tree has a perfect line of sight to the kitchen and can still be hidden in the shadows during the dark early morning hours."

"Okay." Nate paused as he thought that over smiling to himself at the detective's use of the word distinctive; Eliot's word. "You said there was evidence of a body, where is it?" He looked around and he didn't see the coroner's van anywhere. "Has it… it been… has it already been taken away?"

The detective sighed again as he realized just how hard this was going to be. He didn't want to be the one to have to tell the man about… the body. "There is no body, so to speak."

Nate quickly turned back to look at the detective. "What… what do you mean… 'no body'? There has to be a body if your sure it's Eliot."

"We don't have a body." Detective Bonanno repeated. "We have…remains." He watched Nate closely as he spoke. "The bomb… well, the bomb scattered the remains all over the garage. We have blood, bits of bone; some large pieces, some hair and a couple of teeth have been found. We'll be running DNA on the blood and hair and we'll do a dental comparison on the teeth, but that's all we really have to work with. We've bagged his toothbrush and hairbrush to run DNA comparisons, but it would help if you have his dentist and his personal physician so that we can contact them for blood samples and dental x-rays." The detective took in how Nate's face quickly paled at what he was being told. "I need to know if you were working any current jobs that could have put the man in danger. I know he has a past and I'm gonna need a list of anyone who could be after him for any reason." He watched as Nate slowly nodded. "Look, Nate… I know this is hard and I don't want to raise any hopes here, but there is the possibility…" He didn't want to get the man's hopes up, but he couldn't shake his feelings that what he was seeing was what had actually happened.

"What? What possibility? Are you trying to say it might not… it might not be Eliot in there?" Nate asked pointing to the garage.

"I just don't get any good feelings about this whole thing. There is evidence that Eliot could not have gotten to the garage on his own; he had help. That means to me that there was more than just the sniper. The guy in the tree takes Eliot out, but someone else was in the garage or house and they moved him. I just feel that whoever blew up this house wanted the scene found. They wanted an investigation. I think someone wants us to _think_ Eliot Spencer is dead."

Nate took that in. "Then that means if he's still alive, he might not be for long." He ran his hands through his hair as he took that in. "Because anyone who wants to kill Eliot wants to do so slowly. He's made a lot of enemies over the years and most will not want him dead right away." Nate though about everything he knew about Eliot. "But then again, he has just as many enemies that wouldn't hesitate to kill him right away because they know how dangerous it would be to keep the man alive. If he's alive, there is the chance he will get free, it's what he does. And if he gets free then no one, not even God would be able save them from Eliot's wrath."

Nate prayed that Eliot was still alive, but he knew the odds were against that. The man just had too many enemies and since the Damien Moreau job, Eliot had confided a bit more to Nate about who and what might still be out there looking for him. He didn't know everything about the man, but Eliot had told him of a couple suspects that would stop at nothing to kill him.

"That's what I was afraid of." The detective seemed to take all the information in. "Well first things first. We determine if this is Eliot. If it is, we work the case as aggressively as possible to find his killer or killers. If it's not Eliot then… well then we bust our asses to find him as soon as possible. For his sake as well as his captors, I imagine."

"How soon can you find out if the… the remains are Eliot?" God, Nate thought, he hated saying the word 'remains', but he needed to know one way or another.

"I have the M.E. working this as a priority; as a favor to me. I have a lot of favors I plan on calling in on this if necessary. Eliot was my friend, Nate and no matter what he was before I met him, he will always be my friend. I'm not leaving this alone."

Nate smiled slightly as he thanked the detective. If Eliot only knew how much people believed in him then maybe he'd get it through his thick head just how good a guy he really was. Or is. Nate refused to think of Eliot in the past tense until the M.E. proved to him that Eliot really was gone. No if there was any chance in hell, Nate knew Eliot Spencer would still be fighting and not letting anything keep him down.

"I'll get you the name of the doctor we've used in the past, but can you try and keep it out of the system for as long as possible? I mean, if he is alive, we don't need someone coming after him through the police. In case you haven't noticed, cops ask too many questions." Nate said with a soft laugh. "And you'll let me know the instant you know whether or not it's Eliot?"

Detective Bonanno chuckled at Nate's statement. "I will. And I'll do my best to keep things as confidential as possible, but I'm not sure how much I can keep out of the M.E.'s report."

"I'm not worried too much about that right now. First I have to handle this as if Eliot is out there alive and in need of our help. After that if he's really gone, it won't matter anymore what the cops find out."

"And if he's alive?" The detective kept his voice low as they talked. He knew what the dangers were to the man if he was alive, but he needed to be sure Nate didn't act alone on this.

Nate looked up at the detective. "If Eliot is alive, I will do whatever is necessary to keep him that way. I will do whatever is necessary to keep his secrets. Make no mistake, detective, friend or no friend, I will put Eliot before everyone on this and I will do whatever I have to do to get him back."

The detective simply nodded in understanding. And he did understand; he knew he'd do whatever it took to help the mastermind secure Eliot's safety whether it was from the bad guys…or the good guys.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Somewhere in Eliot Spencer's past_

_"__Eliot Hayden Spencer! You get your butt out here right now!" Jack Spencer yelled as he searched the field and surrounding area for his son. Damn it to hell, he thought. That boy was gonna get it when he found him. Hell Jack was gonna get it when his wife, Eliot's mother found out what he'd gone and let his son get away with doing. They were both gonna catch holy hell for this. "Eliot! Come here right now!"_

_Eliot sat huddled in the hay loft of the old barn on his Uncle Web's ranch as he listened to his father calling out for him. He was in so much trouble. He'd done bad and he knew his dad was gonna whoop him good, but he didn't regret it. Not one bit. He'd had so much fun! Man, he thought, it had been the best ride of his life!_

_He'd ridden that horse as if the devil himself was after him, but it had been so worth it! Eliot rode like there was nothing in this world that mattered but him and the horse. Jasper; he'd started calling him that when his Uncle had bought him and brought him to the ranch two weeks ago. His Uncle had gotten a good deal on the demon of a horse 'cause he wasn't broke in yet and none of his uncle's hired hands had been able to do it yet. Eliot had been watching as three of his uncle's best men had tried their hand at it that morning and they'd all failed._

_No one could ride him, but Eliot knew in his heart he could. He could feel the horse calling to him, watching him as Eliot sat on the corral fence watching him in return. He'd begged his uncle and his dad to let him in the corral to just try and calm the horse; just get acquainted with him. Finally they'd agreed albeit reluctantly. _

_But when Eliot had been able to get the horse to calm down, to look at him, Eliot had quickly thrown his twelve-year-old frame onto the back of the beast and he'd rode him hell bent for leather. The horse tried everything to get Eliot off, but he'd hung on. And once on the horse, no one could get close enough to stop them._

_Jasper had managed to jump over the corral's fencing and he'd taken Eliot for the ride of his life. He'd hung on and he'd felt like nothing else mattered except that moment. That one moment when he was one with the horse. He'd thrilled at the wind rushing past him, pushing his already growing longer than his mamma liked hair back from his face and he'd urged Jasper on harder and faster. Then it happened._

_The horse has stumbled and had gone down taking both himself and his young rider down too. Somehow by some miracle, Jasper hadn't been injured other than a cut on his hindquarters, but Eliot hadn't faired as well._

_His Uncle Web had been more worried about the horse than Eliot. He'd broken his arm in the fall, he knew it and he was worried about how much trouble he'd be in as his Uncle turned to face him so he'd ran. He knew his Uncle would never hurt him, but his daddy would and he didn't want that. He hadn't meant to hurt Jasper, he'd just wanted so badly to ride him and he knew in his heart that Jasper had been waiting for him to be the one to ride him._

_Eliot sat now in the hay loft cradling his injured left arm to his chest as he listened to his father calling out for him. Damn he was in so much trouble. But he knew his dad was really the least of his worries. It was his mamma who was the real threat. The one he was the most worried about and not because she'd whoop him too, but because she would be so disappointed in him for not listening. Eliot knew his mamma would kill his father for letting him in the same place as a wild mustang and then she'd blister his backside for getting hurt. _

_Yep, he thought. He was so dead. Eliot Hayden Spencer was for sure and most certainly dead._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly almost 8:00 AM

"Did you do it?" The man sitting in the sidewalk café just down the street from McRory's bar spoke into his cell phone. His deep accent would have clearly been noticed if anyone was sitting near him, but considering the time of morning, he was all alone.

The man reached out to grip his coffee cup and raise it for the waitress's attention to bring him a refill. The service here really wasn't up to his taste, but he wanted to be as close to the bar as possible without being detected.

"Yes." Came the male voice on the other end. "Everyone knows that Eliot Spencer is dead. He died in his truck in his garage when an assassin planted a bomb on his vehicle. He is no longer a threat."

"Good. See to it that's how it stays. I don't want anyone asking questions before… well before we're done here. I've got my eye on the bar and we can rest assured that the others will be easy to eliminate if need be now that their protector is out of the way." The man stopped speaking as the waitress came over and refilled his cup. Once she'd moved on, he spoke again. "I will meet you back at the warehouse in a few hours to begin the next part of our plan. I want to handle that part myself. I want to be the one to make sure Eliot Spencer stays dead. I owe him that much for what he and his team have done to my family."


	3. Chapter 3

Quick AN: Thank you so much for all the positive reviews. I'm glad you're liking this! I have a new chapter here and am working on the next as soon as I post this one. Once again thank you!

CHAPTER THREE

_But My Dreams _

_They Aren't As Empty_

_As My Conscience Seems To Be_

Same day roughly 8:30 AM

Nate opened the door to his apartment to find the other members of his team already assembled in the living room waiting for him. He'd contacted Hardison on his way back and had him contact the girls so they could all meet him here. He had only told Hardison they needed to meet to plan a new job. He'd neglected to tell him that the new job was to find Eliot.

He would have to tell them what he knew, but he wanted to do it face to face with all of them so he only had to go through it once. Because if he wanted to find out who had done this to Eliot, then he needed all of them to know what was at stake and they needed to work together as fast as possible; they were already a man down on this job.

"Hey man, I got us here as fast as I could. You said it was important so I told them to get here asap." Hardison stated as he watched the mastermind walk into the room and toss his keys on the kitchen bar's countertop.

"Yeah, it's important. "He said as he turned to face the three. "We don't have much time and we…" He couldn't finish the sentence. He'd held back his emotions for as long as he could, but once he saw his team he knew he was going to have a hard time keeping up a strong front. He'd wanted to believe Eliot could still be alive, but realization was hitting him hard suddenly.

"Nate, what's wrong?" Sophie immediately got up from her seat at the table in front of Hardison's monitors and she quickly walked over to him. She could see that something was bothering the man. His whole demeanor was giving her a bad feeling. She knew that today was the anniversary of his son, Sam's death. He always closeted himself away on this day; he never lost his composure though. He never let his sadness show in front of the team. Then something hit her. "Nate, where's Eliot?" She saw the shadow that passed over the man's face before he quickly tried to hide it. "Nate? Where _is _Eliot?" She suddenly felt something akin to panic beginning deep in her chest as she took in the fact that their hitter was missing.

"Nate, man…where is El?" Hardison quickly took in the way Nate seemed to be struggling with his emotions as he turned away from their prying eyes.

Parker, who was sitting on the back of the couch facing them, quickly sensed too that something was all wrong here. She may not understand human nature completely, but she'd come a long way with this team. Her family as she'd begun to think of them and she knew something was wrong when Nate tried to avoid their questions. "Something bad has happened to Eliot, hasn't it? Nate, tell me he's okay." The last word came out a little shaky as she too fought the panic she felt suddenly rising inside her.

"Nate! Tell us where Eliot is!" Sophie reached out and grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around and look at her. "Tell me right now!"

Nate looked at her and he couldn't help it when a single tear fell from his eye. He had to tell them what he knew. He had to; it was just hard to say.

"Nate!" Parker practically screamed at the man. "Where is Sparky?"

Nate jumped at Parker's outburst and then he took a deep breath. "Eliot's…dead." He managed to get past the lump in his throat. "There was an explosion at his safe house on Wallace Lane. Detective Bonanno called me early this morning and I met him there."

He took another deep breath as he watched Sophie let go of his arm and take a step back from him. He could see Hardison's mouth drop open and he watched as Parker slowly slid off the back of the couch and walk over to Sophie who gathered the young woman in her arms pulling her in like a mother comforting her child. He could see the tears she was trying to keep at bay brimming in her eyes.

"Not El. He can't die. The man is…he's…he's freakin' immortal, man. Eliot can't be dead." Hardison couldn't imagine a world without their hitter. The guy was indestructible. He always came back from a job. Always.

"Someone shot him through his kitchen window and then placed a bomb on his truck to destroy any evidence. There…there isn't even a body. There's just…" Nate's voice trailed off.

"Just what?" Parker asked. "If there isn't a body, then Eliot isn't dead. You have to have a body to be dead. And besides Eliot can't die like Hardison said. He always comes back to us. He would never die on us. Never." Parker knew she sounded childish even for her, but she couldn't help it. It was the only way she could get it across to them that she knew Eliot couldn't be dead. She felt Sophie softly stroking her back and she calmed down a little from this simple gesture.

"Parker, they found his…his remains."

Sophie looked up sharply at that. "What? What does that mean? There's nothing left…of…of our Eliot?"

Nate couldn't answer. He simply nodded yes as he took in his team's reactions. He hated himself for having to be the one to tell them, but he didn't want them finding out from anyone else. They were a family, his family and he needed to protect them. He needed to do what Eliot would want him to do as far as they were concerned.

"But…but that…that doesn't mean that it's Eliot. Maybe it's someone else. Like maybe Eliot killed his attacker and that's who's in the…the remains." Parker sniffed as she replied. That made sense, Eliot wouldn't go down easy, and he would take out the killer. He just would.

"Then where is Eliot, Parker? He's not at his house. He's not here. He hasn't tried to contact us. Even if he was hurt, Eliot knows we'd drop everything and come for him. He knows how to contact us without anyone finding out. So where is he?" Nate asked even though he really wasn't trying to hurt Parker. He was just as upset as she was, but he had to face the reality here. He had tried on the drive back to rationalize the remains found as not being Eliot, but it all came down to where was Eliot if he was alive?

"Maybe he can't contact us! Maybe he's hurt and can't!" Parker came back at Nate. "Maybe he's out there somewhere hurt and alone and he needs us to just find him!" She didn't want to listen to anything that made her even think about no more Eliot like ever.

Nate reached out and pulled the young thief towards him as he wrapped his arms around her. At first Parker resisted. It was one thing to allow Sophie to mother her, but she wasn't used to Nate comforting her. She couldn't deny however, the fact that his touch was just as comforting as Sophie's. She buried her face in his shirt as he gently stroked her hair.

"I'm sorry Parker. You're right." Nate said between looking down at the young girl and the other two in the room. "We'll just go with the facts for now, but not accept Eliot's gone until we get the official word from the detective."

"We…we will?" She asked looking up at him.

"Sure. I gave Detective Bonanno the contact info for Dr. Navaro that we've used in the past. He'll be discreet and he won't tell the detective anything he shouldn't. He can't anyway. Doctor patient confidentiality prohibits discussing anything about Eliot's actual care. He'll just supply his blood type and sample DNA to run against the samples found at the scene. Then if the DNA matches we'll know for sure." He said as he continued to hold onto Parker. He reached out with his free hand and pulled Sophie into his other arm to hold onto both women. He would try his damnedest to make sure that he was there for them.

"And if they don't get a match?" Hardison asked softly.

Nate looked at the hacker. "If they don't match, then we are gonna find our hitter and we are gonna find him wherever he is." He said.

"Yes. If the DNA doesn't match then we stop at nothing to get our Eliot back here with us." Sophie added.

Nate smiled at her determination. He smiled at all of them. They stood there as a team and Nate knew they would find answers and then they'd find Eliot and God help him, but he knew that none of them would stop until they had what they wanted. Eliot.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Somewhere in Eliot Spencer's past_

_"__Spencer! What the hell are you doing?" Came the caustic demand of Eliot's training sergeant._

_The man was looking at Eliot like he had no brains whatsoever. Eliot knew that the man's job was to make his men feel like idiots, but Eliot was not an idiot and he hated being made to feel like one. Sergeant Whitmore may be his training sergeant and he may be trained himself to treat the men under his command as idiots, but Eliot Spencer was not going to take this. Even in the Army. No, he was not gonna be called an idiot. _

_Eliot hadn't signed up to be treated like an some freakin' moron or as a pack mule. He'd joined up to make a difference. To make up for what was lacking in his life. He'd joined up because that's what the men in his family did. That and to get out of that small town he'd spent his entire life in. Where he was beginning to suffocate from the way his life had turned into one day after the next of the same damn thing. Over and over again. He'd joined because he wanted to be able to breathe._

_"__I asked you a question Spencer! What the hell were you doing out there?"_

_"__Sir, I was thinking that it would be better to actually try and save the victims here before we destroyed the target. These people needed to get to safety first, Sir." He added that last sir with a bit of sarcasm as he stood nose to nose with the man. "This whole mission seems to have been going downhill anyway, so I thought it best to salvage what I could and get innocent people out of the line of fire."_

_"__You thought?! You thought?!" The man got in Eliot's face. "You are a soldier Spencer! A poor excuse of a soldier, but still a soldier! The Army owns you and they pay you to be a soldier! They do not pay you to think! They pay you to do exactly as you are told!"_

_"__Well, then that's the problem with the Army, Sir." Again with the sarcasm. "I'm not gonna let innocent people get caught in the crossfire. Especially the Army's crossfire!" Eliot came back at the man._

_Neither man noticed the Major that walked up to stand just behind the other troops as Eliot faced off against his CO. The man just stood back as he watched Eliot stand up to the other man. _

_"__You're lucky this is a training exercise Spencer! If this had been a real mission, you would have failed your platoon and gotten them all killed just so you could save a few villagers. You do not work alone! You're platoon is your team and you have to think of them before anyone else!" The Sergeant turned to face the rest of the platoon and in doing so he noticed the Major standing just behind the men, but he gave no indication that he had noticed him. "Let this be a lesson to all of you! You are only as good as your weakest link and today that link was Spencer. Platoon dismissed!" He turned back to face Eliot. "Except you Spencer. You are on report and you will have KP for the remainder of the month. You like working alone so much then you get to run the kitchen by yourself. Dismissed."_

_Eliot turned and walked away from the man. Eliot really hated this guy, but truth be told, he didn't mind kitchen duty at all. He liked to cook and wouldn't mind taking over the kitchen. Hell, he may even learn a thing or too. He'd probably give anything to actually get some real instruction in the culinary arts, but he'd make do with being given free reign of an Army kitchen for now._

_The Major stepped over to the Sergeant. "So, what do you think?"_

_"__I think he's arrogant, pig-headed, impossible to train, he'd rather work alone and he's a real pain in my ass." The Sergeant turned to look at the Major. "And I think he's exactly what you're looking for." He added as he grinned slightly._

_The Major also smiled. "I think you're right, Whitmore. I think you're right."_

_"And I think we're gonna get some great meals over the next few months. I hear the kid's got a knack for cookin'." Whitmore added. "Mad skills with a knife."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 8:30 AM

Detective Bonanno looked at the Chief Medical Examiner as they both stood over the table where the remains found in Eliot Spencer's garage lay. "Can you repeat that last part, Les. I'm not quite sure I got that since you don't seem to be speaking English anymore."

Lester McEvoy couldn't help smiling at that. Patrick Bonanno wasn't an idiot. He understood most of what he was telling him; it just didn't seem to be making much sense to him. Which Lester could understand.

"I'm saying these remains are not those of Eliot Spencer, but they do have seven alleles or genetic markers in common with Spencer. I just got the report back from CSI and whoever this is laying here is somehow related to the man. Could be an uncle maybe. A father or brother is also possible. If Spencer was older I'd even go so far as to say it's possible this is his son."

Bonanno took that info in. "So somehow this person is related to Spencer and he was the one blown up in the bomb. Not Spencer himself." He mused out loud. "Okay. So if this is not Eliot, then where the hell is he?"

"That, detective is the million dollar question now, isn't it?" The medical examiner answered.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Sorry it took me so long to get this next chapter done. Been a busy week! Please read and review for me and let me know how it's going for you!

Chapter Four

_I Have Hours, Only Lonely_

_My Love Is Vengeance_

_That's Never Free_

_"__That, detective is the million dollar question now, isn't it?" The medical examiner answered. _

Detective Bonanno looked up from the remains on the table to focus on the medical examiner. "And an even more expensive question is who is this laying here and how exactly is he related to Eliot Spencer?"

"Right. Well Pat, I just cut 'em open and such…" he said pointing to the remains on the table. "It's your job to find out who they were, but I have no doubts that you will find the answers." The man reached for the sheet to cover the remains. "Until I get the word from you, I'm placing these remains in limbo. CSI has recovered more remains found mixed with pieces of the truck and I'm expecting those anytime. I'll put those ahead of anything else today and I'll let you know what I find out from them."

"I know this may be the impossible question here, but do you think you can tell me what exactly the cause of death was or at least give me an idea of the cause."

The man looked at him and laughed. "You mean besides the obvious of being blown to bits?" When he saw the serious look the detective gave him he asked, "You're kidding right?"

Bonanno chuckled lightly then as he answered. "If only I were."

The medical examiner slowly shook his head. "There just isn't enough remains here to give me a difinitive cause of death. The most I can get from these is if I have some samples to run a test for drugs in the tissue. Or I might be able to have some samples tested for the decomp ratio. I might, and I mean I _might_ be able to tell you if he was dead before he was blown to bits, but other than that it's doubltful I can get anything else. Now if your CSI guys could find me a piece larger than a bread box or maybe some sections of the internal organs, I just might be able to tell you more than that, but as it is, this is it."

"Whatever you can get me, Les, that'd be great. Run the decomp tests first. That's a good start. If this man was dead before the bomb, then that would mean this whole thing was planned to kidnap Eliot and that could drum up some different leads to follow. Meanwhile I'm heading out to talk to his team. Call me with the results as soon as you get them. And thanks, Les. I owe you one."

Lester McEvoy looked up at the detective. "You don't owe me anything, Pat. I owe you more than you'll ever know. You helped me out in the past and I'm here anytime. I'll get the lab started on those tests. Don't worry, I'll be in touch." He reached out and shook the detective's hand. "You'll find the truth."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Somewhere in Eliot Spencer's Past_

_"__Eliot!" Came the sweet sounding voice of the young girl with her pigtails flying behind her as she ran up to the young boy who sat cross-legged on their front porch._

_"__Hey Emma." Eliot greeted his sister. " 'Bout time you got home. Mamma's looking for you." He continued to sit on the porch petting their lazy coonhound Jake._

_"__What for? I done all my chores before I went ridin'. Mamma said I could." Emma Spencer flopped down to sit on the other side of Jake as she took hold of one of his long floppy ears and played with it. The dog was totally worthless as an actual coonhound, but he was the most loving animal they'd ever owned and she loved him. _

_"__Not sure exactly, but I think it has to do with Aunt Marie and Uncle Marty. They called and said they were comin' out this weekend to visit and with Mamma being really pregnant right now, she probably wants you to help clean up the house and get the spare room ready. And since it's women's work, she needs you." Eliot teased his sister._

_At thirteen, his sister was a big supporter of the women's lib thing going on. Eliot loved to tease her whenever he could, but in all honesty he really admired his sister's opinions and how strong she actually was. He was a firm believer that women were actually the stronger of the human species. Aside from physical strength men couldn't hold a candle to the things women had been enduring for centuries. Childbirth alone was all it took to understand just how strong his mother was, and then to see how she dealt with other things just made him believe his sister had a good teacher. The two women were exactly alike and they were like rocks as far as he was concerned._

_"__Ha ha. Very funny Ellie." Emma teased back. She knew how much her brother hated the girlie nickname in public, but she also knew he actually like it when it was between the two of them. "Okay, so Aunt Marie and Uncle Marty are coming out from Nevada to visit. We haven't seem them in a while. Did mamma say why they suddenly decided to make the trip?"_

_"__Nope, but she's excited. She went to move dad's truck so they could park their motor home close to the house and she accidentally scratched the side on the fence post over there." He said pointing to their dad's truck parked next to said post. "Dad wanted to be mad, but mamma was so upset she'd done that, he couldn't help but laugh. You should have seen mamma's face when she realized what she'd done." Eliot said as he remembered the incident, laughing at the look on his dad's face._

_Emma laughed too. "Well, Uncle Marty is her favorite brother and he hasn't been home in a while, so I can see why she'd get so excited." She brushed the loose hair from her face as she took in the sight of their dad's truck sitting there with the scrap that she could see from where she sat. "I bet dad's more worried about mamma havin' that baby than his truck, although it's probably a sure thing that the truck is in the back of his mind. He loves that old truck."_

_"__Yep, almost as much as mamma, but like you said, he's more worried about her right now. So he's gone to the store to stock up on food since they plan on staying for a week or so. Mamma said it took Aunt Marie a lot of beggin' but she got Uncle Marty to agree to a week so they could catch up with all the family."_

_"__Cool. Okay, I'll go find mamma, but if I have to clean the house, then you get to start dinner!" Emma said as she jumped up and ran in the house before Eliot could object._

_Eliot only laughed as he watched his sister run inside the house. He reached out and scratched Jake behind his ears and reveled in the sound of bliss that came from the dog's deep rumble. "Just between you and me Jake, I got the better end of the deal. And so did everyone else cause we both know my sister can't cook to save her life!"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly 11:00 AM

"Not Eliot? Your positive detective?" Nate Ford said to the detective that sat across from him at the table in McRory's bar. The fact that the remains that had been found at the crime scene were not those of Eliot was all he'd really heard when the man had begun explaining what he had so far.

"Yes. The medical examiner is positive about that, but there's something we can't explain though."

Nate looked at the man. What else could there be to explain, he thought. Eliot was alive and now he and his remaining team mates had to find him. "What? What's to explain?"

"Les, the M.E. is positive that the remains are those of a male relative of Eliot's. They have the same genetic markers and the body has to be a close relative. Do you know anything of Eliot's family, Nate?"

Nate looked across the bar to the table where Hardison, Parker and Sophie were sitting waiting to hear what the two men were discussing about Eliot. He'd convinced them to let him talk to the detective alone in case…well in case the news wasn't good. But now, he was thinking it was because he didn't want to have them see him lose it in case the news wasn't good. They were facing away from him, but Nate knew they were very in tune with the two men and they'd know the instant the detective got up to leave. It didn't hurt that they were all listening via their earbuds either, he thought with a small smile.

Eliot was alive though and that was what he needed to focus on right now. He didn't know a lot about Eliot but he did know some things that the others didn't. Eliot had told him some things since the events with Damien Moreau; to more or less prove to Nate that he could trust him to be there for the team.

"I don't know much about Eliot's family, he's a very private man and he prefers it that way, but I know his father is alive and lives in Oklahoma. He's retired now, but he used to run a hardware store. I know Eliot had a younger brother, a younger sister and an older one, but the younger sister and brother were killed in a car accident with their mother when Eliot was younger. I don't know the details and I never asked. To get Eliot to give me that much was basically a gift of how much the man had come to trust me. And to ignore that gift by asking him questions was something I would not do. I don't know if his mother or father had any brothers and his one remaining sibling is a sister. He never said if he even kept in touch with any of them." Nate sighed as he remembered when Eliot had chosen to tell him about this much of his family. "I know he has a lot of skeletons in his past that he prefers to keep to himself and I've respected him for that."

The detective nodded slowly. "Do you know if his sister has any children, a son maybe?"

Nate thought about that. "I remember once he said something about his nephew, but he spoke of him like he was a small child. I don't think he has any other nephews since he only mentioned the one that one time. I have a number for his sister, but when Eliot gave it to me it was only to be used if we needed to give her…give her bad news. _Accurate _bad news, if you know what I mean, detective."

"Yeah, unfortunately, I'm gonna need that number, Nate. And before you say anything, I know what to say and how to say it. I'll keep everything quiet until I actually have something to tell her, but I need to know who this guy was and how he was related to Eliot. It could help us find Eliot. That's the next thing here Nate. We need to find out where Eliot is."

Nate looked at the man and nodded. He was right about one thing. They needed to find out what happed to Eliot and where he was. But Nate knew the police investigation was now on the back burner for him and the others. They would conduct their own investigation from here on out. If the detective could identify who the remains were, well that would be the best they could hope for, because whoever had Eliot had to know about him and his family. Whoever had Eliot could very possibly even be family.

Whoever had Eliot was not on the police's radar, but they could very well be on the government's radar and that meant it had to do with something from Eliot's past. Eliot had given Nate his sister's contact info, but that wasn't the only contact info Eliot had given him. Nate held the contact info for someone else; someone who could help him find Eliot and he was keeping that to himself.

Nate reached out for a napkin and pulled a pen from his jacket pocket and he wrote down the contact information for Emma Spencer-Whitmore from memory. That was the only place he kept his team's pertinent info. "I don't know how much help she'll be, but promise me you won't say anything about Eliot missing until you have something concrete on his whereabouts. She'll panic and with what she's had to live with in the past about Eliot, she'll already be suspicious just from getting your call."

"All right. But that's a two way promise." The man said taking the napkin and folding it then putting it in his inside jacket pocket. "You come up with anything on your end, you let me know. But only let me know when you have something concrete. The less I know right now about Eliot's past means the more I can apply _plausible deniability._" He smiled as he reached out and shook hands with Nate over the table.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly sometime around noon

Eliot Spencer knew for a fact he was not lying on his kitchen floor anymore. He had slowly been coming more alert as he continued to fake unconsciousness. He could hear the steady beep beep of the monitors that were recording his heartbeat and his breathing, while he could feel the pain in his chest and his left side. His first thought was he was in a hospital, but that thought quickly vanished when he couldn't smell any of the smells he would have associated with a hospital.

Hospitals, no matter where they were, all had the same distinctive antiseptic smells, and this one had none of those smells. He knew he was in a bed, but it was not a traditional hospital bed. While he knew it was raised slightly, it didn't feel like a normal hospital bed and he knew that he was restrained at both wrists by leather cuffs that were not attached to bed rails, but rather where attached somewhere under the bed itself. Probably to the framework. He also knew his ankles were restrained as well.

He'd slowly been assessing everything he could while he still gave whoever held him captive the impression that he was still out. He needed to have all of his faculties about him if he intended to get out of this mess and right now he knew he wasn't moving very soon. He knew he'd been shot at least twice in his house. One bullet had entered his left side and the other hit him in the chest just as he was going down. And neither injury would have been a simple wound. He knew he should have died from those injuries, but someone had saved him and he could only speculate that the reasons for him being alive meant they needed something from him.

He had a long list of enemies and any number of them could be behind this, but for some reason he couldn't come up with a name at the moment. He could only think it had to be someone who hated him and it had to be from his past. It wouldn't involve his team or he'd have just been dead. If he and the team had been targets then any of those enemies they'd made on their jobs would have just killed him. No, whoever was behind this wanted him to live just so he could suffer later.

"I know you're faking it Eliot." The voice was male and was familiar. Eliot thought it was the same voice from his kitchen, but he wasn't sure. Something was nagging at the back of his mind about that voice.

_"__Hello Mr. White Hat…"_

Eliot slowly opened his eyes to find his vision slightly fuzzy as he tried to focus in on the man standing over him. As his vision slowly cleared and the man came into focus, Eliot was sure he was hallucinating. This man was…dead. As in, Eliot knew he was dead because he'd been the one to take his knife and slit his throat. He had killed this man over five years ago. Five years ago when he'd worked for Damien Moreau.

The killing of this man had been the only thing Eliot had ever regretted doing. The one truly worst thing he'd ever done. The one worst thing he'd done for Damien Moreau. He remembered telling his team. He remembered…

_Nate slowly stood up and walked over to Eliot. "We've been chasing Moreau for six months, and you didn't tell us?"_

_"__Because I was trying…" Eliot began. He didn't know how to tell them. He'd been trying to protect them and he'd been hoping he'd never have to tell them. But he knew Moreau and he knew what he was capable of._

_But Nate interrupted him. "Because what?"_

_"…__to figure out a way around this, all right; maybe take my shot before-"_

_"__Because you're protecting him?" Nate interrupted again. "Is that what you're-"_

_This time Eliot snapped back at him. "I'm protecting you! All right…last time I checked, that's my job."_

_"__Look we can handle Moreau."_

_Eliot sighed as he looked up at Nate. He didn't understand. None of them understood. They couldn't even begin to understand. "We're out of our league, Nate. Every one of Moreau's men has innocent blood on their hands, every one of 'em. Every one of 'em…are worse than me. You think you know what I've done? The worst thing I ever did in my entire life, I did for Damien Moreau. And I – I'll never be clean of that." Never he thought to himself. _

_"__What did you do?" Came Parker's soft voice from behind Nate and that voice just about killed Eliot. Her voice just about made him lose any control he had left._

_Eliot slowly turned his gaze from Nate to Parker. "Don't ask me that, Parker." He knew she could see the unshed tears in his eyes as he spoke to her. They could all see. "Because if you ask me, I'm gonna tell you. So please don't ask me."_

"So you remember me, don't you Eliot?" The man stood over Eliot looking down at him. He bent down until his face was mere inches from Eliot's. "Ghosts have a way of making themselves known, don't they? Ghosts always have a way of making themselves known." He chuckled softly at the look in Eliot's eyes. "But then again, you have a lot of ghosts making themselves known to you. You've killed more men than you can count and I'm sure that most of them even deservied it. But I didn't. Did I? Brother?"

Eliot closed his eyes slowly and when he opened them the man was gone and there was no one near him. He was still in the bed and he could still hear the monitor beeping, but the man he'd killed for Damien Moreau was gone. The man that he should never have killed he thought. The man who was family…the man who was his brother.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

_No One Knows What It's Like_

_To Feel These Feelings_

_Like I Do_

_And I Blame You_

Roughly about Noon

"So Hardison, you got all that right?" Nate asked the hacker as he moved to sit down with the team after having spoken with the detective.

Nate had asked the team members to allow him to talk to Detective Bonanno alone, but he'd allowed Hardison to record the conversation while they all listened in via their earbuds. He knew they'd heard everything he'd said to the man, but he knew they wouldn't bring up everything he'd said; not right now.

"Yep. I got every word. What do we do now, Nate?" Hardison asked as he fumbled with his laptop. "I've already hacked into the detective's case notes in the police database as well as flagged all of Eliot's known aliases and his credit cards, but I don't have much of anything. Everything the detective told you is pretty much all he has in his notes and I doubt that I'm gonna get any hits on El's credit cards. I've tried to track his earbud, but it's offline so he probably wasn't even wearing it." Hardison paused as he ran his fingers deftly across his keyboard. "Eliot didn't leave man, he was taken and we don't even know if he had his wallet on him when he was. There's nothing in Bonanno's notes about anything missing from El's house. Besides if he was hurt when he was taken, he could already be-"

"Don't you say it Hardison!" Parker spoke quickly interrupting the hacker. "Do not say that Eliot's dead, 'cause he's NOT dead! Everything that I'm hearing is telling me he isn't. He wouldn't do that to me; to us. Eliot would never leave us!"

All eyes turned to look at the young woman as she sat between Hardison and Sophie. Nate knew that out of all the team members, Parker would take losing Eliot the hardest. Eliot was her idol; her big brother of sorts. He could do no wrong in her eyes, no matter what he said to the contrary.

Parker hadn't had much stability in her young life, and being a part of this team was all she really had. And to take away her brother, well Nate knew it would hurt the girl just as much as losing her first brother had.

Sophie reached out and pulled the thief closer to her in a motherly hug. "He wasn't going to say that. He just meant that since Eliot was hurt, he would be unable to use his credit cards." Sophie soothed the woman as she gently held her close. "That's what you meant, isn't it Hardison?" Sophie turned pleading eyes to the hacker.

"Yeah, Parker. That's what I meant." The young man stated softly reaching out and taking one of Parker's hands in his own.

He was worried about how Parker was dealing with this. He knew she'd have the hardest time losing anyone on the team, but Eliot was the one person she depended on the most. Eliot's absence here was a constant reminder of the unknown and Parker did not like 'the unknown'.

When Hardison had first realized just how much Parker idolized Eliot, he had to admit he had been jealous. Eliot always got the girl, why did he have to take the one Hardison was interested in? But he quickly realized that it had nothing to do with romance and had everything to do with trust. Something that Parker very rarely gave anyone. The girl just needed someone in her life that she could totally trust in; someone who didn't want to take advantage of her.

She needed someone who was willing to protect her, care for her without wanting anything in return. She'd been hurt by so many people in her past, but not by Eliot. He brought balance back to her life and she'd blossomed since joing their team. She was still a bit socially awkward, but Hardison could see subtle changes in her everyday and in part that was due to how Eliot had accepted all of them and how well he protected them; protected her. He would go to the ends of the earth for any one of them, and Hardison knew he'd walk through the worst things imaginable if it meant Eliot would be protecting Parker. He'd learned that the man was just doing his job; not because he had to, but because he wanted to. And he knew Eliot placed Parker in the_ special _category because, hell who wouldn't? The girl worked her way under you skin and before you knew it, she had a firm grip on your heart.

Hardison wanted to protect her too, but he knew that Eliot could do that better than any of them and he knew now that he was okay with that. Eliot was not only important to Parker. He was important to Hardison too. Hardison hadn't had a real big brother and he felt like Eliot was his brother. His real brother; and Eliot was the best there was. While Eliot teased him unmercilessly, he knew Eliot would throw himself in front of the bus for him just as easily as he would for Parker.

"Hardison's right though Parker." Nate said as he watched the young thief. "If Eliot is hurt, he isn't going to be able to just get up and walk away. Whoever has him may be giving him medical treatment and they may not, but the one thing we can be sure of if Eliot is being held by someone from his past. And that's that there is no way he will expose himself even to us. That would be his way of protecting us." He finished, reaching for his glass he'd brought to the table with him.

"Yes. Eliot wouldn't want anyone coming after us, so he'll stay put or he'll disappear entirely. He will not lead anyone to us. So we need to find him and we need to find him soon." Sophie added, allowing Hardison to pull Parker into a hug.

"Yeah, but that's the problem. If we don't know where he is then we can't get hurt by the people that have him. But if we don't know where he is then we don't know how to help him either. And we need to help him, Nate." Hardison added, holding Parker close as he looked at the man across from him.

"Yeah, we need to find him. And then we need to protect him for a change." Nate sighed deeply as he realized his glass was empty. He raised it for the waitress to come get him a refill. "And I think I can find us some outside help in finding Eliot. Someone that might just know who has Eliot and why. Someone who can help us bring him home."

Sophie turned troubled eyes to Nate. "What do you mean?"

Nate smiled softly as he stated, "Eliot's sister isn't the only contact informaton he trusted me with." He watched them awkwardly. "I have another one that Eliot told me to only use if something… something bad ever happened to him."

"Well, Geez Nate, I think this qualifies." Hardison said looking at the mastermind. "Call them already for crying out loud!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Somewhere in Eliot Spencer's past_

_Eliot Spencer sat, watching; just watching. His ass hurt from all this sitting, but he wasn't moving until he'd learned everything there was to learn during this re-con mission. He needed as much intelligence as he could get if he and his team were to succeed in rescuing the American soldiers and some locals being held in secret below him in the supposedly abandoned building here in Croatia._

_Eliot remembered when he'd first enlisted in the US Army and he'd spent his basic training fighting everything the Army threw at him to try and make him a better soldier. He'd thought when he'd first enlisted that he was going to have an adventure, especially after leaving behind the life he'd once had in Oklahoma. He'd thought the Army would let him shed that closed up feeling he'd gotten living in a small town._

_But in reality he'd found that he'd just traded one claustrophobic life for another. Only this life allowed him to move from country to country while he was held in owndership by Uncle Sam. That was until he'd been approached about a year into his service. That was when his old CO had brought him to a meeting with then Field Officer Major Vance who was now Lt. Colonel Vance, his commanding officer._

_They'd been looking for 'a few good men' he thought with a chuckle as the Marine Corp slogan came foremost to his mind. They had been recruiting men to serve in the Special Operations Command. Black Ops. Delta. Whatever name they gave it for the benefit of explanation to the civilians of the world, but the meaning was still clear. They needed soldiers to do what the government couldn't publicly sanction. They needed soldiers to do the dirty stuff._

_Whatever you called it, Eliot was now a secret soldier in a secret group doing secret things to save secret people from secret threats; and if that all boiled down to doing the 'dirty' stuff then he was okay with that. He was good at what he did, damn good; and he was not being conceited in any way. He was good because the government had trained him well and because all of this came kind of naturally for him. He'd spent most of his life trying to hide from the life he'd had growing up. It wasn't a bad life, it just felt like he was destined for something else and then when his mom had died, he'd really had a lot thrown at him and he'd just needed to survive. And he had survived even if it had cost him most of his family. Besides if he didn't do this job, someone else would have been sitting here letting their ass get numb in his place._

_Yeah he thought, he was good at this. He was barely 19 years old and here he was second in command of this mission and on his way to leading his own unit soon. He would be commanding his own team on his next mission and as soon as he helped liberate these hostages and get Croatia on it's way to independence, he could start that next assignment._

_When they'd recruited him, Eliot had just turned 18, having lied about his age when he'd enlisted just so he could get out of that town he was suffocating in. He'd been 17 and just graduating from high school so he'd lied to the recruiter and now here he was. Not old enough to legally drink in most states, but able to lead a covort op to save at least 30 people, maybe more._

_Eliot had went through hell just to survive the selection process, which to him only meant they needed to recruit the men that were too strong or too stupid to die during the process. He'd endured enless sit-ups, push-ups, too long mile runs with no rest and no water and the worst shit he'd been faced with had been the mental screenings. Eliot had his secrets and he didn't need the Army working it's way inside his head over his private thoughts. He'd learned then just how to compartmentalize everything and stow it down deep inside himself. He'd learned a lot about how to push everything and everyone aside to protect himself. And he'd succeeded._

_But Eliot couldn't help thinking of his sister Emma from time to time and of Aimee. He'd left both women without any news on where he was when he'd gone home to visit before he'd been successfully recruited. He'd left Aimee the night before he had to report for basic with a promise ring and well, just a promise. A promise to come back to her as soon as he could, but he'd failed to keep that promise and when he had gone back to visit, he'd found out from Emma that Aimee hadn't waited for him. She'd moved with her family to Kentucky and was getting married soon._

_He'd been hurt at first, but he soon realized it was his own fault and he couldn't blame her if she found someone else. He knew in his heart he didn't belong in this small town anymore and he couldn 't be the husband she deserved. He couldn't give anything to her when he had nothing to give. So he'd left home telling Emma he'd keep in touch, but she knew too that she wouldn't be seeing him anytime soon. He hadn't even seen his father, who had actually refused to see him anyway. Everyone but Emma had turned their backs on him and he probably deserved it. The last thing he saw from his truck's rearview mirror as he drove away was his sister standing alone in the street just watching him drive away._

_Eliot shook off the memories as he came back to his mission now. He was needed right now and he couldn't let anything stop him from what he had to do. He brought the night vision binoculars back up to his eyes and took note of the SUV that was driving up. Eliot could feel the dynamics of this mission changing as he watched. The big shot, the head honcho was on the scene and that didn't mean anything good for the hostages below. That meant the team had to act now, not later._

_As Eliot reached for his ear com to relate the necessary information to his superiors, he took note of the fact that the rest of his men were already noting the new events taking place below too and they were moving themselves into position to react before they were given their next orders. That's what Eliot liked, a fine-tuned team that read each other without needing to ask questions. He liked being a part of a team; his team._

_Then the sound of gunshots from below threw all thoughts to the wind as the team reacted…_

AN: So sorry for how short this chapter was, but I've been sick and trying to get back to my writing. I promise the next chapter will explain a lot more and will mostly be Eliot-centric. I can't promise all will be explained, but I'm getting there! Hang in there with me! I promise to have the next chapter up something this weekend!


	6. Chapter 6

AN: I want to take a moment to thank everyone for your well wishes and the kindness you have shown me in the writing of this fic. I am so glad you are all enjoying it and ignoring all my typing mistakes. I usually use spell check but it doesn' catch everything and I had been feeling so bad this last couple of weeks, I didn't proofread as well as I should have. I do try tho! I was a little worried about this chapter and have re-written it several times. I am going to be updating as soon as I can so I can keep the story moving along for everyone so please keep up the reviews and great comments that I truly appreciate very much!

Chapter Six

_No One Bites Back As Hard_

_On Their Anger_

_None Of My Pain And Woe_

_Can Show Through_

_Somewhere in Eliot Spencer's past_

_"__Eliot Sweetie, would you help Emma clear the table? She can do the dishes since you fixed this great dinner. Right Emma?" Mary Spencer spoke to her two oldest children. She smiled at each as she asked them for their help._

_"__Sure mamma." Emma replied picking up her plate and some of the other dishes on the table. "Come on Ellie, I'll let you dry!" She teased as she headed past him into the kitchen._

_"__Very funny. I do not have to dry. That's your job too!" Eliot said as he grabbed up a handful of dishes and followed her. "Besides," he added coming into the kitchen on her heels. "Mamma said you had to do them. Were you not just listening?" He deposited his handful of dishes on the counter next to Emma's as he turned to head back for more. "And I still have some things to go over for my history test tomorrow." He added before disappearing through the doorway._

_Emma smiled at her brother's retreating back as she began to fill the sink with water and soap. As he came back in with another load of dishes, she said to him, "you didn't have to use every dish in the house for this dinner, you know. And you especially didn't have to use the good china. If you'd used the everyday dishes, I could have just loaded up the dishwasher and been done already."_

_"__No, I probably didn't, but since it was a special night for mamma, I thought it would be nice." Eliot said matter-of-factly._

_"__Yeah you're right. Mamma misses Aunt Marie and Uncle Marty a lot, and now that their son Evan has gone off to join the Air Force, they don't have as much keeping them tied down at home so it was nice of them to visit. And it was nice of you to make dinner special for all of them, I guess." She grudgingly admited, loading dishes into the hot water and setting to work on them._

_Eliot smiled slyly as he added, "And it was fun giving you more work to do!" _

_"__Oh, you!" Emma said laughing as she threw the wet washcloth at him. Eliot ran through the doorway to avoid the wet rag and came back with another load of dishes. "So not funny 'little' brother!" That would get him. Eliot hated being called on his height as well as his age in regards to her._

_Emma was always rubbing it in that she was a whole two inches taller and a whole two minutes older. Eliot ignored her as he deposited the last of the dirty dishes on the counter next to her and snuck out the back door to go check on the horses before heading up to his room to study._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 1:30 PM

Eliot Spencer was no stranger to pain. He'd been injured more times than he cared to ever admit, but when he opened his eyes some time later he was minutely aware of every single ache and pain he'd probably ever experienced. Being tied down to a hospital bed was not only causing his current wounds to throb to attention, his old wounds were making themselves known in the restraint of his muscles. He wanted to stretch his arms to work out the kinks, but his movement was limited. He needed to move, he needed to know he was not at the mercy of some enemy of his past.

When the hazy image of a woman in a blue nurse's uniform bending over him came into his vision, he thought maybe he was still asleep and dreaming. That was until his vision cleared up a bit and he could focus more clearly on her. There _was _a woman bending over him and he could see she was taking his pulse. He could feel her fingers on his right wrist just below the leather cuff that held him captive.

He thought again about struggling against the restraints, but his body was so tired right now and he was still groggy from slipping in and out of consciousness. He couldn't even muster up enough energy to try and move his hand, but the woman must have sensed he was awake as she spoke to him.

"Oh, good you're awake. How are you feeling Mr. Chapman?" The woman looked directly at Eliot and he couldn't believe how green her eyes were. They were the same deep mossy green color of the grass back home. Back home he thought. When had he been thinking of home?

Eliot couldn't help but just stare into their deep green depths and he didn't realized she'd actually asked him another question until she reached out and snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. He jolted a bit at that and managed to ask in a gruff voice, "What the hell?" His voice was raspy and rough even for him, but the response was instinctive.

The woman smiled at him despite his rough response and repeated her question. "I asked how you were feeling?" She seemed to be genuinely concerned for his health, Eliot thought. But that wasn't possible. She was a part of…of whatever the hell was going on here.

Her concern surprised Eliot though, as he tried to maintain his stoic but gruff front when he answered her. "I've been shot and probably died somewhere between getting shot and now. And I hurt like hell. That's how I feel." He managed to get out past the dryness in his mouth and throat. He sounded a lot grumpier than normal, but he was being held against his will here. He was again surprised by the woman's soft laughter at his reply.

"I bet you do hurt. Maybe this'll help some." She reached out and picked up a cup with a spoon in it that must have been sitting on a table near the head of his bed.

She scooped up whatever was in the cup and held the spoon out for him to take. He just looked suspiciously at the spoon and then at her. When he realized that she was holding a spoonful of ice cips his first instinct was to greedily latch onto the spoon, however considering he was here as a prisoner, he didn't know what might also be included with the ice.

"There's nothing here but frozen water." She said to him noticing his hesitation. "I promise." She added in a whisper bending closer to him.

Eliot wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not, but his instincts were telling him for some unknown reason that he could trust her. Yet he continued to hesitate.

"Come on, Mr. Chapman. I'm not here to hurt you, I promise. Besides the sooner you get better, the sooner you can get out of here and back to your life, hon." The woman softly said as she continued to hold the spoon to his lips.

_Get out of here and back to my life? _Was she serious? Eliot looked at the woman; really looked. Yes, she was serious. She had no idea why he was being held prisoner here. She was just the hired help. Someone hired to keep him alive so that the man who wanted him here could deliver the killing blow himself. She had no idea what she was into here.

Eliot looked the woman over. She was probably in her early forties, but he was basing that on how she spoke to him. Like a mother hen. She didn't look much older than early thirties, so he knew she took care of herself. Eliot knew how to read people and if she wasn't in her forties, then she had what he liked to call 'an old soul'. She knew of a harsher life at one point. That was evident in her caring nature. Her choice to be a nurse perhaps stemmed from that caring nature. She'd see a lot of loss in her life.

She was also very attractive now that he concentrated on her face. She not only had those deep soul baring green eyes that seemed to be able to search out his soul as well, but she had soft plump lips that just hovered there waiting for him to… He mentally shook himself as he realized where his thoughts had been heading. He also realized that she had guessed his concerns over the ice right away. She'd read him too.

But it was her dark blonde hair that was her best feature. She currently had it pulled back and secured at the nape of her neck. He could feel his fingers just itching to run through the length of it. To release it from it's bond and see it frame her soft face. He was willing to bet if she let her hair go loose, she would melt a man's socks right off his feet.

She smiled softly at him. "Have I passed your inspection, Mr. Chapman?"

Eliot should have been surprised, but he wasn't. She read him just as quickly as he'd read her. He fought at the smile tugging at his lips. To hide it, he slowly opened his mouth and allowed her to feed him the ice chips and as he chewed on the mouthful, he watched as she slowly settled herself next to him on the bed. With his arms restrained at his sides, he was just barely able to brush her upper thigh with the fingertips of his right hand.

She continued to smile at him as she gave him another spoonful of ice. "That's good, but we might want to slow down. We don't want to upset our system with too much right now." She said as she scooped out one more bite before setting the cup back down on the table.

Eliot had instantly felt the relief the ice gave him going down his parched throat and hated the thought of not getting anymore, but he understood the need to go slow. He'd cared for his own wounds enough in the past, to know what his limits were. Besides he didn't handle anesthetic well, and he needed to be careful not to overload his system.

"We? Our system?" He questioned her as he swallowed the last mouthful of the nectar. "When did _we_ get shot? I thought it was just me here in this bed."

She laughed at him. "You're right, I didn't. But that's what comes out when…" She stopped abruptly. She moved her eyes from him and seemed to be looking off to his left.

"That's what comes out when you're a mother?" He quietly finished for her. When she brought her eyes back to him, he could see the pain in those beautiful eyes.

She swallowed convulsively as she looked down at the man lying in the bed. Why in the world did she feel the urge to tell him the truth about herself? She didn't know this man from Adam, and yet she felt this strong urge to trust him.

"Was." She replied simply.

"Was?"

She sighed deeply. "I was a mother."

Eliot got it then. "As in not anymore." He realized she _had_ seen a lot of loss in her life. "What happened?" He asked quietly.

She hesitated and for a moment, Eliot thought she was going to tell him about it, but then he saw something come over her face that seemed to shut out what she had been feeling. She was closing herself off. He recognized it instantly, hell he was a master of shutting people out and closing things off from others poking around in his life. He understood and backed off.

"So, what exactly happened to put me here?" He asked instead.

The woman returned her gaze back to him and smiled in thank you to him. "You were shot Mr. Chapman. You came here with two wounds and you were barely alive. But Dr. Richards was able to remove the bullets and stop the bleeding. You did lose a lot of blood, though and that's why you're so tired. But lucky for you we were able to give you direct blood transufsions from your brother." She reached down to check the IV that ran into his left arm by stretching across his body.

That's when Eliot looked up and realized the bag on the IV pole was red. It was blood being pumped into his system right now. His brother? Eliot had some memory of seeing the man when he'd first woken up, but he'd thought it was just a dream. There was no way it had been his brother. He only had one brother and he died when he was seven in a car crash with his mother. Unless… no, it wasn't possible. Evan was dead. He'd been dead over five years now.

"My…my brother?" He asked his voice a little shaky. "I don't have a brother."

The woman looked at him confused. "He said he was your brother."

"What…what name did he give?" Eliot now remembered the woman kept calling him Mr. Chapman. He hadn't really placed that until now.

"Evan Chapman." When she saw the look of sheer disbelief pass over the Eliot's features she was confused even more. "What's wrong?"

"My brother Evan died five years ago in…just he died five years ago. It's not possible the man who brought me here is my brother." Eliot looked around him suddenly trying to see what was going on around him.

When he saw only himself and the nurse, his breathing eased a bit, but he knew he was in danger. Real danger. This wasn't just an enemy from his past, this _was _his past. His past was coming back to haunt him. Eliot Spencer had faced a lot of different enemies in his lifetime and had fought many a foe to come out on top almost everytime, but he'd never faced the other side of this world. He'd never faced a ghost before.

"Mr. Chapman, are you sure? This man looks just like you. I've met the man, and he seems genuinely concerned for your well-being. He's not far, I can go get him for you."

Eliot quickly jerked to look back at the woman. Katharine he saw on her name tag. "No!" He tried to pull at his hands where they were still bound in the cuffs, but he was still so weak. "If this man were really my brother, then ask yourself why in the hell does he have me tied to a bed in a private residence instead of in a hospital where I should be? Ask yourself that, Katharine and then tell me this man is really my family. Ask yourself that and then tell me how the hell I can get out of here."

Katharine Malone Whitfield looked down at the man and realized there was something wrong here. She'd been feeling it ever since she'd taken this assignment. She'd known from the minute she laid eyes on Eliot Chapman that even if he did look exactly like the man Evan Chapman, there was something wrong with this whole setup. She couldn't understand the use of the restraints, but she'd trusted Dr. Richards. She'd worked with him at the hospital for the last 8 years. Quickly scanning the room she turned back to Eliot. "What do you want me to do?"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

_But My Dreams_

_They Aren't As Empty_

_As My Conscience Seems To Be_

_Katherine Malone looked down at the man and realized there was something wrong here. She'd been feeling it ever since she'd taken this assignment… Quickly scanning the room she turned back to Eliot. "What do you want me to do?"_

Eliot looked up at the woman still sitting next to him on the bed. How could he ask her to help him escape? He didn't want to drag her into this, but he could see no other way. At least not in his current condition and not knowing exactly where or even when he was. He hated relying on someone to help him, but he saw no other way at the moment. "Just help me to get out of here," he sighed as he quietly added, "Please?"

"I'm not sure how I can do that exactly." Katharine thought about it. How could she get him out of here? He was in a well guarded room in a well guarded home and while she was staying on the premises to monitor his care, she had no idea exactly how detailed the layout of this large home was. She'd only been in the front door and straight up the stairs to this west wing of the home to monitor this man's care and was told to only use the back stairs to go to the kitchen for her meals. The doctor wasn't even on the premises right now. He was due back soon though. "Look, tell me what's going on here first. I need to…I need to know that what I'm about to do is the right thing to do." Even if she felt this whole thing was off, she didn't want to be trading one bad decision for another. "I just need to know that I'm not making a mistake by helping you."

Eliot looked deep into her green eyes. He held contact as he reached out his right forefinger as far as he could to touch her on her thigh. "You know what's happening here isn't right, I can see it in your eyes. You know this is all wrong." He watched her as he spoke. "Just…just look at me and I mean really look at me and then tell me if I'm the ba…the problem or the victim." He didn't want to say 'bad guy', cause Eliot knew that for most of his life he'd always been the bad guy. And he knew in his heart he would always be the bad guy. "Just tell me that seeing me lying here shot, restrained for whatever reason they gave you, and being pretty close to being dependent on another human being is what I deserve. Just…just look at me and tell me if I deserve to be treated like this." He finished softly never breaking his eye contact with her as he gently moved his hands as far as he could in the restraints to make his point. He hated feeling this vulnerable, but he could see no way around it...for now.

Eliot knew he was putting all of his trust on the line with this woman, but he didn't have anyone else he could depend on right now. And if she could help him out, he'd make sure she was safe. He'd do his damnedest to make sure she didn't get hurt from any of this. He just needed her to help him get free and then he could get in contact with his team and Nate would make sure she was set up under a false identity and moved somewhere safe. He just needed to get out of here as soon as possible. He knew he'd already been here too long. His team had no idea where he was or how to find him, because they had no idea who was behind this; but Eliot knew. He was piecing it together and didn't like the answer he was getting.

Katharine looked into his eyes. His incredibly blue eyes and she knew that whatever was going on here, it was wrong. He was right, he didn't deserve to be shackled to a bed especially after having major surgery for two bullet wounds. He'd been shot, and just that alone was suspicious. He should be in a hospital, not in Evan Chapman's home. Whoever Evan Chapman was, she knew he wasn't being honest with his explanations of why this man was being restrained.

"What's your name. I mean the chart says it's Eliot Chapman, but I just want to be sure…" She didn't want to sound like she was invading his privacy, but she needed to know what to call him. And she really wanted to know if he would be honest with her. She knew if he'd lie just by watching those deep eyes of his.

"Spencer. My name is Eliot Spencer." He answered her.

Okay she thought, she'd made her decision. She didn't have any real family, save an elderly aunt in Kansas, so she had nothing holding her to this job, even if she did like the hospital here. She knew somehow that if she helped this man, she'd be leaving this place. She'd left other places to come here, so leaving wasn't that big of a deal. She'd been doing it for a long time now and she knew she could start over somewhere else. She didn't mind leaving everything behind. She'd move on and start a new chapter. Besides she was pretty sure if her daughter were here, she'd agree. _Take a chance mom, it's the right thing to do here. I promise. _Katharine could actually feel her daughter's words as she heard them softly whispered in her ear. She smiled to herself.

"Okay Eliot Spencer," She agreed. "I'll help you, but you'd better not make me regret it." She shook her left finger at him like a mother to a naughty child and was actually pleased when he smiled at her.

"Wouldn't dream of it darlin'." He replied as he touched his right forefinger again to her thigh. Damn he thought, she was really beautiful. "I wouldn't dream of it." He gave her his most sincere smile and he actually allowed it to reach his eyes as he did.

And that did it for her. Those blue eyes and that smile. He had her from that moment on and she knew she was in trouble. And not from the consequences of helping him, but from him. The man. He'd reached out and grabbed her heart and now she knew that whatever happened here, she was not going to ever regret this decision. Come what may, she was going to save this man. She was going to save Eliot.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 2:00 PM

Nate sat at the desk in the office space of his loft. He'd just placed a call to Eliot's sister Emma to ask her how she was and to descreetly see if he could find out exactly what Detective Bonanno had asked her about Eliot. He knew that Emma knew exactly what Eliot did now in his work with Nate and the team, he'd told Nate as much when he'd given him her cell number just in case. But he also said that he didn't ever go into any details with her. She knew what his life was like, and she'd accepted that a long time ago.

Nate had never talked to the woman before, but considering he'd been the one to give her number to the detective, he wanted to at least make sure she was doing okay and not worrying about Eliot.

Emma had been kind and told him everything the detective had told her and everything he'd asked of her. Nate smiled as he realized just from their conversation , that the woman was exactly like Eliot Spencer. She was direct and to the point and didn't mince words where Eliot was concerned. She knew something was up, but she'd learned a long time ago not to ask questions, however Nate could sense she was dying to ask.

He assured her that Eliot was fine and that he'd just up and disappeared on the team and since that was basically how Eliot had lived the last few years of his life, she seemed to understand. She assured Nate he'd be back, maybe a bruise or two, one stitch or twenty, and he'd be ready to get back to work. He always was. She'd learned to never ask anything that demanded he lie to her and Eliot had learned to never tell her any lies if he could help it. No matter what he did, she said he always found his way back to a phone and called her sooner or later. So they both agreed if they heard from him they'd contact the other.

Now Nate sat there contemplating his next call as he reached for the glass he'd brought with him from the liquor cabinet. It was almost empty, but as he noted the time on the desk clock he knew he needed to make this call. It was a little after four and if he wanted to catch the man he needed to make the call. He needed to call Emma's husband and he was in DC while she was back home in Oklahoma visiting friends.

Nate picked up his cell and punched in the numbers he'd memorized over the last hour. The phone rang exactly one time before it was picked up.

"I don't recognize this number so this better be good or so help me I will hunt your ass down and you do not want that, believe me." Was the greeting Nate got.

Nate was momentarily taken aback by the greeting and he stumbled over the words in his mouth as they seemed frozen there. "Umm…"

"Spit it out man! I don't have all damn day." The voice was gavelly like he'd swallowed nothing but road gravel and a lot of it. He was hard and quick and on edge. He was all business.

Nate's brain froze and all he could come back with was, "My name is Nate Ford."

That got him a minute of silence from the other end as the man stopped breathing it seemed. Then there was a rustling sound as if the man was switching his phone from one ear to the other.

"Mr. Ford if you are calling me then that means only one thing. Eliot must be in trouble." The man seemed to have calmed down a little, but not much as he added, "what has that dumbass gotten himself into now?"

"Well…Major it seems he's gone and gotten himself shot up and kidnapped and I have no idea whether he's dead or alive or even where he is at the moment." Nate wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing here or not, but he knew he couldn't do this alone. He needed help. Hardison hadn't found anything yet and time was running out. "Eliot's been missing roughly over twelve hours now and I…we need your help to find him. I'm hoping you have some idea who might have him."

"Mr. Ford…if someone had Eliot he is most likely either already dead or he's being tortured and in that case he will soon be dead."

Nate winced at the words. The man was worse than his wife. He was blunt and it bothered Nate and he was beginning to wonder if he was doing the right thing by calling him. Nate heaved a deep sigh and the other man seemed to soften at the sound.

"Tell me what you know." He said in a more subdued tone of voice.

And so Nate told the man everything he knew about what happened to Eliot. He read him all of the detective's notes that Hardison had hacked from the police database and he didn't leave anything out. He told him about the remains not being Eliot's, but they were somehow related to him. He told him everything about anyone from any of their past cases that could possibly be behind this, but he knew that wasn't the case. He had a rock hard feeling that this was personal for Eliot, deeply and the remains being a relative only solidified that feeling.

"I think I can help you Mr. Ford. Give me your address and I'll be there in exactly 3 hours."

Nate gave him the information and thanked him for the help. "Thank you Major. I'm at a loss here on what to do."

The man softened a little more as the conversation continued. "Call me Matt. Tell me Mr. Ford, has the detective contacted my wife at all? I haven't talked to her yet today what with meetings and things and this number you called is… well let's just call it a back up phone that's not to be used unless…"

Nate smiled. Yeah, back up. More like Black ops, he thought. "I understand Major. Yes, I felt obligated to give the detective your wife's cell number and I just talked to her. But he didn't tell her anything about what I've told you, only that Eliot was missing and there was a crime scene at his house. She seemed to understand it was probably something with Eliot's lifestyle and not a normal crime. I figure she will be calling you soon enough."

"You're right. She will. The woman is not anything if not readable. She's the exact opposite of Eliot in that regard. You do know they are twins, don't you?"

Nate was surprised by that. He didn't know that and he'd just assumed Emma was older because…well because that's the way Eliot described her to him. He considered her his closest thing to a rock in his family. Eliot didn't say much about any of his family other than his sister, so Nate had no idea what other family he had. "No, I didn't know that. You know, Eliot barely told me much about Emma other than she's his sister and her contact number if anything happened to him. I know nothing about any of his other family."

The other man sighed at that. "It's probably best you don't know. His life wasn't easy. Neither was Emma's. I met her when Eliot joined the Army. Couldn't take my eyes off the woman…girl really, hell but what a girl. Eliot was only 17 when he joined the Army. Lied to get in. To get…" Matthew Whitmore let the sentence trail off. "Best not to go there Mr. Ford. Eliot would have my dumbass if I went telling things he doesn't want anyone to know. But suffice it to say that Emma is really all Eliot has. Maybe after we get his ass back you can get him to answer some questions. Sounds like he's got a family there…with you and your team." The man said gruffly.

Nate smiled again as he realized the man was giving him a backhanded compliment. "Thank you…again Major."

"Anyway those are Eliot's secrets and he plays everything close to the vest. Always has always will probably. I'll take care of Emma and don't do anything until I get there. And believe this Mr. Ford, I'll be there. Make no mistake, if the person who has Eliot is who I believe it might be, then it's not just about Eliot's past in the service. It stems from his time with Damien Moreau and from a long family history. I'll explain what I can when I get there."

"Again…thank you Major Whitmore. And call me Nate."

"Sure just as soon as you remember to call me Matt." The man chuckled. "I'll see you in exactly 3 hours. Oh, and I'll be bringing an old friend to help out. He'd kill me if I left him out of this."

Nate hung up the phone and sat back to think about what had just happened. Eliot would probably be pissed at him for calling his brother-in-law into this, but the man was not here and Nate would gladly let him be pissed if Major Matthew Whitmore could bring Eliot home. Yes, he thought. He'd gladly take Eliot's anger over no Eliot at all.

He drained his glass and got up to head for the liquor cabinet. Looks like I'm going to be drinking after all today, Sammy. Sorry son, but you know how it is. I've got to find Eliot. Nate looked heavenward as he stood there after pouring his drink.

If it's not too much to ask Sam, how about you keep an eye on El for me? For all of us. Keep him alive until we can get to him and I promise you I will try and do better. I truly promise, son. And as Nate prayed to one son to protect another, he brought his third drink of the day to his lips.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 2:30 PM

Matthew Whitmore looked out the window of his office after hanging up the phone. Damn he thought. He'd hoped this day would never come, but here it was and now he was in deep shit. After he got Eliot back,_ if_ he got Eliot back, he was going to have to explain to the man how the brother he'd thought he'd killed five years ago was back from the dead.

After Matt had managed to find Eliot and get him help out of Damien Moreau's operation, thanks to a call from General Flores in San Lorenzo, he'd let Eliot think he'd really killed Evan Chapman, his brother. Eliot hadn't known Evan was his brother at the time he'd killed him; he learned the truth afterwards. Evan Chapman was the name the Air Force had given him when they'd created him a new identity after getting him away from Moreau in exchange for all the information he had on Moreau. That identity was supposed to protect him, but somehow Moreau had found him and he'd sent Eliot to kill him.

Evan Taylor had been working for the Defense department on a case to take down Moreau, but he'd gone AWOL from the military and had gone deep into Moreau's team. He'd switched sides. When things had gone sideways on a job he was doing for the man, Moreau blamed Evan for it and when you fell out of favor with Moreau you ended up dead; that's when Evan had made contact with the military to make a deal try to save himself.

Evan had contacted him and Colonel Vance and promised to give up all the information he had on Moreau in exchange for immunity and a new identity. But that had been before Moreau had found out what Evan was doing and how he was related to Eliot. It was Moreau who told Eliot the truth about the man he'd killed.

Only Eliot hadn't really killed Evan. He…well he'd killed someone else planted in Evan's place and a damn good lookalike Matt had to admit it, cause he'd fooled Eliot. But when Eliot had found out who Evan really was, he'd lost it. He'd gone on a no holds barred mission doing whatever Moreau asked him to do. And when Matt had gotten word that Eliot was headed to San Lorenzo to kill the General, he'd headed there himself. He'd taken a couple of guys from Eliot's old ops team and they'd found Eliot rescuing the General instead of killing him. He'd finally broken down in the middle of the mission and he just couldn't kill the General.

That had been almost five years ago and Matt hadn't heard from Eliot in all that time. Eliot had wandered from place to place for over a year before joining up with Nate Ford's crew and slowly Eliot had started keeping in sporadic touch with Emma, but he'd never called him. He'd never contacted either Matt or Vance in anyway. So that's why Matt had been surprised that El had given Nate Ford his number in case he needed him.

Matt sighed as he thought about his wife. He smiled woefully as he remembered the young woman at Eliot's graduation of boot camp before he went home for a few days to visit. This was his only time for a visit before he was to be sent overseas on his first tour of duty. That had been when Matt knew he was lost. Something happened to Eliot when he'd gone home and Matt hadn't really understood until Emma explained it later that it was because of Aimee. She hadn't waited for Eliot. The boy had been angry when he'd come back and he had tried Matt's authority at every turn. They'd had their ups and downs, but Emma had been Matt's saving grace.

Because of her, he'd done everything to make sure he and then Major Vance managed to keep the redneck pain in the ass boy out of trouble. But the trouble with Eliot Spencer was that trouble was his middle name. And he _liked_ his middle name. He loved being a soldier and he'd taken quickly to anything that was thrown at him. And he'd been leading his own team by the time he was 19. An unheard of thing in the regular military, but not Black Ops. Didn't matter how old he was as long as he was a leader. And Eliot Spencer was a leader.

He was good at it, and he had the respect of every man who'd ever worked under him no matter how old he was. Eliot had worked hard and he'd earned his right to be called Commander. Then that mission in the south of Iraq had taken them all down. The man had gotten taken from his team and they'd lost him. They'd finally found him, but not before Eliot had taken every known torture tactic known to man. And Matt cringed when he remembered that. Literally every known tactic. Everything had been done to that boy; everything. But he'd come back. He'd come back, but then again he hadn't.

Eliot Spencer had left a part of himself in that sandpit and Matt had been sure he'd never be able to get it back. That's when Eliot left the military and went out on his own. He'd worked alone for a long time before being recruited by Damien Moreau. When word spread that Eliot was working for the other side, a lot of men were surprised. The man had been a soldier, a good one. But after what happened to him, he'd gotten himself in a bad place and ended up with the enemy.

Matt had heard of what Eliot had been doing for Nathan Ford. Whatever had happened to Eliot during his time between leaving Damien and joining Nathan, Matt didn't know much about. But he had kept tabs on him since he'd been with Nate. And he was happy the man was finally doing something that could now be considered good. Something that was similar to what he'd done in the beginning of his career.

Matt understood better than anyone the way Eliot felt about himself and he knew most soldiers felt the same way. But he also knew that Eliot had to feel he had some good in him somewhere because he was trying to do the right thing now. God only knew just how much the man was trying to do good. Eliot had was trying because Matt knew he needed to feel that he could still be good. That he could still somehow be that green soldier that once dreamed of making a difference in this world. He'd been a soldier and a damn good one, but then he'd been a killer. A damn good one. And now he just wanted to be. Didn't matter what he did as long as he could just be.

He sighed again as he realized he needed to contact Vance. He'd need his help on this because Matt knew for a fact that if anyone had Eliot it would be Evan Chapman. And that wasn't good. Evan Chapman had been a bad guy when he'd first came into the Air Force and he'd left an even badder guy. And he'd left vowing to kill those that had taken his life from him. Vowing to get back at everyone who'd outed him to Damien Moreau and back at the military that had turned on him. Yeah, Matt thought. They had turned on him because Evan Chapman was the real bad guy here. Not Eliot Spencer.

Matt sighed as he picked up the phone and made his call. He had a lot of work to do and he only had three hours to get ready. He needed a miracle here, or at the very least he needed a little good luck and he knew that Eliot didn't have much time left.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Sorry this chapter is more descriptive than actual conversations, but I needed to get some back story in there. The next chapter should be a little better. And thanks again to everyone for the positive reviews and know I really appreciate hearing from you!

Chapter Eight

_I Have Hours, Only Lonely_

_My Love Is Vengeance_

_That's Never Free_

_Somewhere in Eliot's Past_

_Eliot smiled to himself as he walked to the barn to check on the horses for the night after leaving the kitchen and his sister who had just called him 'little' behind. He'd never admit it to anyone, especially Emma, but his height or general lack of compared to her two inches over him, didn't really bother him. He'd always been taught by their father that it didn't really matter what people saw, it was more important what they didn't see. And Eliot could hold his own. Always had and always would._

_He kind of liked the fact that being a little shorter helped him move faster and he was able to scale rocks and rough terrain more easily than most boys his age. He was good at sports and while basketball would never be in his future (he didn't really care for the sport anyway), he knew football was. He was good at it and it was because people didn't really see him coming until it was too late. He liked being on the junior high school's team and looked forward to trying out when he hit high school next year. He liked being the one that surprised others when they'd already dismissed him so easily because of his height._

_And it wasn't just sports that Eliot excelled in. He liked that he could move through crowds of people and not be noticed. He had a stealth about him and he liked that. His father told him it was because of his Cherokee heritage. He said that Eliot was built like an Indian warrior of old. And Eliot liked that idea; being a warrior. He loved hearing his father talk about their heritage and he knew in his heart that everything he was and would ever be was all about who his family had been. If nothing else, Eliot believed very strongly that who his family had been was who Eliot would one day become. He longed to be a real warrior in this world and he'd decided recently that he was thinking about seeking a career that would in some way allow him to help people who couldn't help themselves. He'd decided he was going to enter the military instead of going to college when he graduated from high school._

_He hadn't told anyone about his decision, but after hearing from his aunt and uncle how his cousin Evan was planning on entering the Air Force, he was thinking he may say something soon. But something about Evan entering the military had Eliot thinking. He'd been surprised at the news because Evan had never made any kind of remarks about ever being interested in the military before. In fact when his twin brother Eaton had joined, he'd made rude comments. He'd acted like an ass in front of his parents about the whole thing and Eliot's parents had seemed even more upset about Evan's display than his own parents had._

_Eliot didn't know the two men that well because they were almost eight years older than him, but he liked Eaton and didn't really like Evan much at all. From what Eliot knew of him, Evan was always getting in trouble in one way or another, especially with the law. Eliot remembered his Uncle Marty having to bail him out of jail on several different occasions, so it was a little surprising that suddenly Evan would want to be in such a structured organization such as the military. The man hated being told what to do and as far as Eliot was concerned the guy was a bully and a coward. He was always blaming others for everything that went wrong with his life. He never took ownership of his own actions._

_But Eaton was the exact opposite of Evan. He cared about people and he said as much when he'd decided to enlist in the Air Force almost a year ago. He was currently stationed somewhere in Nevada near Las Vegas and that's where Eliot's aunt and uncle were living now. They'd moved out there after Eaton had been permanently stationed. Eliot admired Eaton and his choice to help others and that was one of the reasons he'd decided on the military. But he was thinking more about joining the Army instead. He wanted a chance to be a more hands on soldier and he didn't really care for flying much._

_Eliot finished up with the horses giving them some extra hay and grain for the night as his thoughts kept going back to his visiting relatives. His mother had two step-brothers, Uncle Marty and Uncle Ross who lived in Wyoming. Eliot didn't know much about his mother's father other than he'd died unexpectedly when she was young and her mother had remarried to a widowed man with two sons of his own. She loved both brothers as if they really were her blood, but Uncle Marty was her favorite. _

_Eliot smiled 'cause they'd all heard how Uncle Marty had taken on a couple bullies that had been tormenting his little step-sister not long after they'd come together as a family. It was no secret that the boys hadn't really liked the idea of being saddled with a sibling especially a sister, but that day changed their lives forever and cemented the bond between the two that to this day hadn't even cracked as far as Eliot knew._

_He thought he'd go back and tell his visiting relatives good night before he retired to his room to study for that dang history test he had tomorrow. Eliot hated tests, but he was good with history. He had a head for facts and tidbits always stuck in his mind. Some things seemed useless, but always seemed to pop up when he needed them. He had a knack for remembering things, but tests terrified him. They put him in a worry mode and it took Emma to come to his rescue once when he'd thought he'd simply just rather keel over and die than face a math test he had coming up. _

_She had taught him a trick about treating tests like they were nothing more than classroom work. Just pretend he was doing a homework assignment in class and handle them as if they weren't all that important, because in reality they really weren't what made him smarter. Learning is what made him smarter, tests were just a way to gauge what a person knew. So Eliot had tried that, and he'd been surprised at how right she was. He just treated the tests as another paper to fill out and he'd actually improved dramatically over the past few months. _

_But this test would be different. They were currently learning about the Trail of Tears in history class and Eliot felt a personal bond to the people that had been forced from their homeland in Georgia to be relocated to Oklahoma. He had descended from a survivor of this injustice and knew that what they'd endured in their journey was wrong. His father had told him that in the Cherokee language the event is refered to _Nu na da ul tsun yi – _the place where they cried – and that nearly a third of the group died. Eliot knew the numbers of the dead varied because no one had a real record of who these people really were since they didn't really care, but he was willing to bet that the total of 4, 000 that is cited in his history book was probably low from the stories his father's father's father had passed down._

_Eliot knew if he'd been a young warrior in that day and age, he'd probably be dead now because he would have fought for their freedom to remain on his land and so he could understand the heart that most of his ancestors put in their stories of the past. He hated what had been done to his ancestors, but he hated seeing what happened ot others' ancestors as well such as the slavery issues leading up to the civil war. Eliot believed no man deserved to be put above another simply because of the color of his skin. Everyone was human and therefore his equal. He smiled when he remembered how Emma called him a bleeding heart loyalist._

_She understood though, things got to her too. She'd never tease Eliot too harshly about his feelings though because she was very protective of her brother. She sometimes told him that he 'felt' too much though and he needed to learn to control himself or he'd be taken down by the wrong person. And then she'd call him a girl or call him Ellie or something before running off. All of it just made Eliot smile. He loved her and his family and he'd take care of himself. _

_Eliot knew she was right though. He did need to keep his feelings more hidden, but it was just so damn hard to put them away whenever something that he knew was wrong was being done to another person. He'd gotten into a couple scrapes already just from protecting fellow schoolmates from bullies. He hated bullies more than anything and he didn't tolerate one person trying to control another in any way. He especially hated any kind of abuse in any way._

_He had only known a loving family so it was hard sometimes to understand how some mothers or fathers could actually abuse their kids. His parents would never hit him just because he was in their way. They might punish him and Eliot knew his mamma would whoop his ass if he did something wrong, but it was basically just a saying. She'd never actually laid a hand on him that he could remember. He couldn't remember her ever hitting any of his siblings either. He knew that just seeing the hurt look on her face at something he did was more than enough for Eliot to take whatever punishment came. _

_Now his father was a different story. The man never abused any of his kids either, but if they'd needed their butts whooped he did it. No problem. And Eliot could understand that. However as they grew older, his father didn't follow that guide much anymore. He sided with his wife in punishment when it was doled out on Emma and Eliot. They were older and busting their butts wouldn't make a difference other than they hurt for a little while. He was smart enough to know that they needed something that would make more of an impact, like taking away their riding priviledges. That killed Emma more than Eliot, but it hurt him too. _

_Horses were their life here on their small ranch, but Eliot could live without them easier than Emma. Now if his dad took away his books or his guitar, then that would get to Eliot more. He loved reading and learning and music was what he used to help control his feelings. He used music to keep his emotions in check._

_Eliot shook off these thoughts though as he walked past the open window of the dining room to head for the front of the house so he could avoid seeing Emma who he knew was still in the kitchen doing dishes. He chuckled as he thought about the fact he really had used just about every dish in the cabinets for their dinner. _

_As he passed the window though the conversation he heard gave him pause. He suddenly stopped altogether at the sound of his name being used in the discussion between the four adults still seated at the dining table. His name had been used along with Evan and Eaton's. Eliot listend quietly as he heard what he never even suspected in his thirteen years and couldn't believe he was hearing now._

_"__Well as long as the kids never find out the truth that's all I care about. Especially Eliot. The other children don't worry me as much, but Eliot? He won't rest until he knows every single detail. He won't rest until he has the truth and that's something he can never know. The turth would ruin this family and I have to think of my other children. I know you understand that Marty." Came Eliot's mother, Mary's voice._

_Uncle Marty's voice came then. "We understand, Mary. Really we do and we agree. Eliot would be the one most hurt by this. Marie and I have decided that we will destroy any trail that can connect the children to Evan and Eaton. I promise you, if you agree with our decision, then Evan will not get the answers he's demanding. I promise you he will not learn anything from us anyway." The man paused as if he was thinking of what to say next before he slowly continued. "We made both of you a promise over twenty years ago and we will stand by that promise. We just wanted the both of you to know what Evan was up to and what we suspect is the real reason he decided to leave for the military. You have the right to know."_

_"__Thank you for that Marty." This was Eliot's dad's voice, Jack Spencer. "But you're wrong. We don't have the right to know. We forfeited those rights that day long ago." His father's voice seemed to choke up here as Eliot continued to listen._

_His mother picked up for his father. "Jack's right. We gave up any right to know anything when I…when you had to raise Evan and Eaton. We forfeited a lot of things that day…" Eliot couldn't help but hear the break in his mother's voice as he heard her raspy voice pause during the converstation. He heard his father move from his chair to come console his wife. Eliot could feel his father doing it and he knew something wasn't right with this whole conversation._

_What did his parents mean he thought. What had they given up? And what's more what did they want to hide from all of us kids especially me? What had happened twenty years ago?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 3:00 PM

Nate sat at the table in his sort of kitchen dining area and he watched Hardison across the room clicking away on his computer. The boy was working his fingers off trying to find something on Eliot. Nate sighed as he took in the fact that Parker was outside the window behind him working with her gear as she climbed up the building to just throw herself off again. And again. And again. He sighed has he counted this as her eighteenth time so far.

He couldn't help thinking his team was trying to deal with things the only way they knew how. They were dealing by doing what they were good at. Sophie was sitting next to him and was watching to make sure he didn't do what he was good at. Namely reaching for the whisky bottle that she kept subconsciously moving farther and farther away from his hands.

Nate sighed again as he looked longingly at the bottle, but he tried to push the urge to just get up and get the damn bottle because he knew no matter how quickly he moved, Sophie would beat him to it. He turned from the bottle to look in her deep brown eyes as she continued to keep one eye on him and the other on the bottle.

He'd told them about the call he'd made to Eliot's friend and that he would be here in the next couple of hours with help and that the man had a good idea where Eliot might be. Nate had asked Hardison to start working on checking all the surveilance cameras he could hack between them and Eliot's safe house for anything out of the ordinary. The problem was that when Eliot had been taken it had been dark and they didn't even know how he'd been transported, but at least it was something that kept Haridson busy.

He hadn't told them who the man that was coming to help was or how he was related to Eliot. That was Matthew's business if he wanted the team to know any details. All the others knew was that the man was from Eliot's military days and that he'd help. That's all they needed to really know for now. They just needed to concentrate on finding Eliot. It was just that simple.

Eliot needed to know when he came back that he still had his privacy. And his secrets. They all had to know that the team cared for each of them, but that the others would also respect their privacy because their secrets were what made them who they were today. Eliot especially needed to know that he was protected from any invasion of privacy. Nate knew how much the man felt he was not a good man and that no matter how much good he'd done in his life he'd never be clean of the blood on his hands from his past life.

But Nate knew in his heart that Eliot was not a bad man. He didn't think Eliot had ever really been a bad man. He'd been through some tough times, made some choices that had taken him down one road instead of another and that led to bad things, but the choices he'd made were what made him a good man. He'd made choices in order to protect others. Eliot was always doing things to damage himself in order to save others no matter what he led you to believe.

Yes, he'd done bad things, but that didn't make him a bad man. Nate truly believed that whatever things Eliot had had to do in the past, he'd had to do. He'd done bad to somehow do good. Nate seriously doubted that the Eliot Spencer he knew had ever made a decision to harm another living soul just because he had wanted to harm them. The man he knew was weighed down too much by his heart. The man had too much guilt in his soul and a bad man didn't care about guilt. Eliot carried that guilt with him everywhere everyday until it damn near broke his back. He'd had a bad life, but he'd tried. The trouble with Eliot Spencer was that no one could make him believe it because the man was his own worst enemy.

Nate thought about the package sitting on the coffee table where he'd put it a little while ago in preparation. He'd promised, he thought. Eliot had given him the package back before they'd gone to San Lorenzo to rescue General Flores and to take down Damien Moreau permanently. Eliot had given him instructions that if anything happened to him, he wanted Nate to deliver the contents of the package. The package contained letters; 7 letters to be exact and Nate had been angry when he'd discovered what Eliot had been thinking.

It was almost as if Eliot had planned on not coming back; as if taking down Moreau would be his last act on earth, but during the plan ride over he'd thought of what Eliot had done to protect him and the Italian in that warehouse and Nate knew then that Eliot was being realistic. Damien Moreau would not let Eliot out alive this time if Nate's plan failed. He knew then that Eliot had been working behind the team's back in secret to try and take down Moreau alone so he could protect them.

It finally dawned on him as he sat in his seat on that flight, sipping at his constant drinking companion that Eliot did know exactly what Moreau was capable of. Better than anyone in this world and that by keeping his history with Moreau a secret from them he was protecting them from the man's wrath. If the team didn't know of Eliot's link to Moreau, then Moreau would not go after them. He'd only take down Eliot because he knew if you wanted to end this team his best shot was to take out their hitter. Take out Eliot and they'd be forced to break apart as well. Then they wouldn't be any threat to him.

No matter how smart they each were, they were no match for Moreau without Eliot's protection. But what Moreau didn't know was that Eliot was much more than just their hitter. He was their friend, their brother, their family. And if Moreau took Eliot, he'd face their wrath in a thousand different ways. They may not have been able to take him down after losing Eliot, but they would have been able to make his life miserable.

That was something Eliot hadn't thought of because he didn't think he was that important to anyone, least of all them. The man didn't realize that they not only depended on him, they loved him. Eliot was the backbone of this team. Anyone could be trained to be a hacker. They'd never have the flair Hardison that had, but they'd be competent enough to do a job. Ditto for Parker. The girl was just too crazy to be duplicated, but Nate knew he could find another thief to do a job. He'd miss Hardison and Parker, but the team could move forward. They'd just never have his heart like those two did.

He could also find another competent grifter, although he'd never replace Sophie as the woman he loved, that wouldn't be possible. But the point was anyone could be replaced on skills alone. But to make them all a family, they needed the other things like Hardison's flair, Parker's crazy, Sophie's… well just Sophie.

But the person who kept them all in line was Eliot. He was Hardison's friend, his brother. The two fought like brothers, but Eliot would take a bullet for Hardison. And Parker, Eliot knew Parker was crazy but he would throw himself off a building for her. Hell he had thrown himself off a building for her. And Eliot watched out for Sophie and not just because she was important to the team, but because she was important to Nate. Eliot had sent Sophie flowers and Parker a plant for Nate and Hardison when they'd needed to know they were appreciated when the guys hadn't even thought about doing that.

That's the kind of man Eliot Spencer was. He wasn't bad. Bad guys didn't go around rescuing puppies and sending flowers for others. They didn't remember everyone's birthdays or favorite foods or their passions. Eliot did. Eliot remembered Sam's birthday and he would watch over Nate whenever he could on that day. No, Eliot was all they had and they were going to get him back no matter what, Nate thought. He smiled at Sophie as she continued to study him.

"Thinking really hard there aren't you, Nate?" She spoke softly just for his ears.

"Always." He smiled again as he thought of all the times this woman sitting next to him had stood by him too.

Then he made a decision. He'd promised Eliot then and even if they got Eliot back, the team needed to know how much Eliot really did care for them. He'd give them their letters and hold the others back until he actually needed to send those. There were letters for each of them Hardison, Sophie, Parker and himself. The other three were for Eliot's sister, Aimee and Eliot's father. No matter the outcome, they needed to know just how important each of them were to the man.

"Parker!" Nate turned to the window and yelled just as he saw a flash of blonde hair go sailing by. "Get in here, I need to update you guys on a couple of things. Hardison park your screens for now and let's meet up at the couch."

Parker slowly climbed in the window and unhooked her rigging line to drop just inside on the floor and then she bounded over to perch on the back of the couch just as Hardison dropped down in front of her with his bottle of orange soda in his hand.

Nate turned to Sophie and pulled her to her feet to lead her over to the couch and let her settle down next to Hardison while he walked around the coffee table to stand in front of them with the package lying there between them.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Just a quick note. I realized I made a faux paux! I mentioned in the last chapter how Eliot sent flowers and a plant to Sophie and Parker and in the first Chapter I said they'd just done the Queen's Gambit job. The flowers didn't happen until the Lonely Hearts Job which is way after the Queen's Gambit. But oh well, it worked. So I'm leaving it! And just think two chapters in the time it takes me to try and get one posted! And thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. I love all of you!

Chapter Nine

_When My Fist Clenches, Crack It Open_

_Before I Use It And Lose My Cool_

_When I Smile, Tell Me Some Bad News_

_Before I Laugh And Act Like A Fool_

Roughly about 3:30 PM

"Isn't this sweet?" Came the somewhate mocking voice of Evan Chapman from the doorway to the room where Eliot lay hooked up to all the medical equipment.

Eliot jerked his head at the voice and then wished he hadn't. The move sent a wave of nausea rushing through him and he so didn't want to find himself in need of throwing up when he suspected there was nothing more than fluids in his system. That was the worst kind of nausea. He slowly closed his eyes to steal himself against the rolling room and to calm his stomach as he pushed his head back onto his pillow.

"Well, it was until you stopped by." He managed to say as he felt Katharine slip her hand in his right one close to her leg. He knew the gesture was meant to help ease his pain, but he suspected – rather he hoped – she was doing so for a deeper reason. He opened his eyes to see her smiling softly down at him.

_I'm on your side. I'm here. _ She was silently telling him and he smiled back at her. _Thank you._ He said with his own smile.

Evan took in the look between the two and he couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up and out as he said, "Eliot always did have a way with the ladies, nurse." He moved into the room followed closely by another man in a white lab coat; Eliot could only assume this was the doctor.

"If I were you nurse," Evan began, letting his disdain for the two show in the way he said the word nurse. "I'd be careful around my brother. He tends to have an eye for anything in a skirt...or pants...or a uniform." He added as he stepped closer to the two.

To her credit, Katharine didn't even flinch at his words. The only clue she'd even heard Evan's mocking tone was the gentle squeeze she gave Eliot's hand that she still held. Evan seemed to notice the gesture and simply smiled at Eliot as he took this in too.

"Don't worry Evan. I'm not going anywhere. You've made sure of that haven't you?" Eliot replied as he gently moved his hand to show he was still restrained. He knew what Evan was thinking and he didn't want Katharine in Evan's sights. Nothing good would come from that. "But I think you should tell the nurse exactly why I'm being restrained considering the condition I'm in." Eliot's tone was even and neutral, but his eyes were anything but. He looked at Evan with the hatred he'd had for the man growing up.

"Well, the restraints were just a pre-caution. You know Eliot, sometimes you tend to forget where you are when you come out of anesthesia and the doctor didn't want you to hurt yourself." Evan pointed to the man next to him. "This is your doctor, Dr. Richards."

Eliot slowly moved his eyes from Evan to take in the doctor. He sized him up in a second. White collar never married most likely thought himself a lady's man and he was just doing this for the money. No questions asked. Just another lackey as far as Eliot could see; although there was something about the man's eyes that gave him a feeling of deja vu.

"Oh, good then since he's awake and in no danger of hurting himself it's okay to remove the restraints now, right?" Katharine asked. She was addressing the doctor but her eyes never left Evan Chapman's.

Good girl Eliot thought. Tough. She wasn't gonna let Evan get to her, but he'd have to warn her just what kind of man Evan really was. She didn't really know what was going on here or how dangerouse Evan really was. He squeezed her hand hard to try and get her to tone it down a bit, but she didn't respond.

"I mean, he's awake and talking and seems to know exactly what's going on." Again she kept her attention focused only at Evan. She knew what Eliot was doing, but she was suddenly angry. She didn't know for sure why, probably because of his mocking tone, but she couldn't help thinking of her own brother, Luke. He'd been taken from her by someone like this Evan Chapman.

Interesting, Evan thought. This woman was more than just another skirt to fall for Eliot's good looks and charm. This one had a bit of spunk in her. He smiled at the woman. "What's your name nurse?" Again the disdain at her title.

Katharine slowly stood up to all five foot three inches of her. She barely came to Evan's shoulders, but she stood and with as much dignity as she could muster up she spoke to the man as if he were a child who needed to understand the proper way to address someone. "My name, Mr. Chapman, is Katharine Wakefield and while you may think I'm overstepping my bounds here with your disdain, I can assure you I am not. As you like to point out I may only a nurse, but my job as a nurse means that I take care of my patient's needs above all else. And I take my job very seriously."

She stood there eye to chest with Evan Chapman and damn Eliot thought to himself she'd won this round as he took in the slight flicker of something Eliot hadn't seen in a very long time cross over Evan's face. The man was momentarily surprised at the woman's strength. She'd managed to let the man know in just an instant that she was not just another lackey he could buy and sell. She was someone worthy of being watched and Eliot was even more worried now, because the woman was now on Evan's radar.

"Nurse Wakefield!" Dr. Richards chastized her. "Mr. Chapman is our employer and you should show him that respect."

Katharine never broke eye contact with Evan though as she responded to the doctor. "I am showing him respect, Doctor. I'm just also making sure that my patient is given the same respect." She slowly turned her eyes to meet the doctor's. "I mean that's the oath we all take – to do no harm and to protect our patients' by any means possible. Correct?"

The doctor had the good grace to look sheepish as he realized that she was also telling him exactly what she thought he was doing. She knew he was more interested in the money than in Eliot's care and he knew she was right. He needed to be watching out for Eliot's care.

"Yes." He answered slowly. "You are right. Our patient is important." He turned to Evan as he next spoke. "Perhaps it would be all right to remove the restraints now seeing that Mr. Chapman is awake and in no danger of injuring himself." He spoke with a bit of anxiety in his voice. While he knew Katharine was right he also elicited a fear of Evan Chapman in his voice.

Eliot picked up on it right away and couldn't help the smirk he sent Evan's way. "Yes Evan, maybe you could remove the restraints just for now?" He mocked the man. You may have the doctor on your side, but I have the nurse. Who wins this round?

Evan knew as well as Eliot even with his hands restrained, hurt or not, Eliot was still a dangerous man. But Evan also sensed that Eliot wasn't going anywhere until he got answers and their shared silent communication said volumes. Eliot was not going to let Evan anywhere near Katharine if he could help it; so Evan knew as long as the nurse was here, so was Eliot. "Of course, by all means, Ms. Wakefield. Please remove the restraints." He used a neutral tone, but Eliot however did not miss the fact that Evan was now slightly weary of the nurse.

"Thank you Mr. Chapman." Katharine turned back to Eliot and carefully moved to release the restraint over him on his left side first before she moved to his right side closest to her.

Eliot smiled inwardly as he realized what the woman had just done and then he also realized that this woman was not just a meek and mild nurse. He carefully moved his left hand while she was working on his other one to hide the object she'd slid into it. Eliot felt somewhat better with the restraints off and he carefully gripped Katharine's left wrist with his right hand as he forced her to look him in the eye.

_Who are you? _He silently conveyed.

She smiled at him. _A friend. _

She slowly moved away and after the doctor looked Eliot over to be sure he was progressing well, Evan moved to stand next to Eliot's bed once again.

"Perhaps doctor, you and nurse Wakefield wouldn't mind leaving us for a moment while I talk in private with my brother?"

"Of course Mr. Chapman." Doctor Richards stated as he moved to the doorway.

Katharine quickly looked from Evan to Eliot in a slight panic. She didn't want to leave him just yet, but at the silent nod from Eliot she refrained from saying anything. She simply turned to follow the doctor from the room.

"So Evan, mind explaining why you sent someone to kill me and then save me?" Eliot asked once he was sure the doctor and Katharine were out of the room. He remembered the object she'd slipped in his hand and he'd quickly hidden it under the blankets under his hip as the doctor had been messing with checking his bandages on that side.

Evan missed the manuever as he was intent on watching Katharine. He now realized that the nurse wasn't going to be as easy to manipulate as the good doctor and that was something he'd have to make arrangements for. Just in case.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 3:45 PM

Alec Hardison had had a somewhat hard life in the beginning, but after being taken in as a kid by his Nana, he'd learned a lot about human nature. And the fact that Eliot Spencer had written each of his team members a letter in case he died back during the San Lorenzo job just made him question everything he knew to date about the man.

The Eliot Spencer he knew would never say anything about his feelings let alone write them down, so death must have been a very real possibility for him. More than he'd led them to believe. That or he'd feared something worse than death to lead him to write these.

Hardison sighed as he sat in the living area of his private loft next to Nate's. The man had asked them all to leave to read the letters in private if they chose to. Alec smiled to himself as he recalled how Parker had thrust her letter back at Nate and said she wasn't reading anything because Eliot was alive and he'd have a huge fit if they read these before that.

Nate had understood but said the letter would be right there on the coffee table if she changed her mind. Alec knew for now she wouldn't, but he figured sooner or later she would. Simply because she would think about the fact that Eliot had written her a letter and that would mean he cared, even if he was a grouchy bear she loved to poke.

He looked at the letter in his hands as he turned it over and over. It was fairly thick, there had to be at least 3 or 4 pages in there. He'd noticed his and Nate's seemed to be the thickest in comparison to Parker's and Sophie's, but no where near as thick as the one for Eliot's sister. Or Aimee's. He thought those letters had to be the hardest. He didn't know why, but the one he saw for Eliot's father seemed to be the thinnest and he wondered how Eliot couldn't come up with more to say to the man that had raised him.

Must be some other family issues there he thought. But those were Eliot's issues, not Hardison's. He slowly ripped the envelope open as he made his choice and pulled the pages from inside. Five pages, he thought. Wow.

_Hardison, _

_Well, if you're reading this, I didn't make it back with the team from San Lorenzo. I can only hope if _you _are reading this, then you did. And that's good. Really good._

_So, first off I know you're probably thinking something's wrong if Eliot wrote you a letter, right? Yeah that's what I thought too when I first put pen to paper, but then I decided I'd already written one for Nate, so I needed to let you know a few things as well._

_Where do I start? Well, let's begin by just getting things straight here, bro. Yes, bro, because no matter how much you drive me crazy, you are my bro._

_You are the first and foremost cornerstone of this team. Without you, we might as well walk away 'cause we ain't gonna be able to accomplish anything without you having our backs._

_Just remember that as I tell you that even if I am gone, I'm still very much there with you right now. I may not have told you how I felt, but I tried. In my own way. And don't rub it in okay?_

_I tried my best to protect all of you and I know I should have told all of you about my past with Damien Moreau, but I just didn't know how. Not because I wanted to protect him, but because I wanted to protect you guys. I knew what Damien was capable of and I didn't want him to get to any of you. _

_And I know I haven't apologized for letting you almost drown in the pool during our meeting with him, but you gotta understand my reasoning. I asked you to go with me for a reason. I couldn't take Nate, because of the obvious. Damien knew about Nate through the Italian. I couldn't take either Parker or Sophie because…well let's just say Damien and Chapman have a thing about women. You saw the group of women with him didn't you? _

_Well for Damien women are good for only one thing. That's it for him. And Chapman, well let me just say that he is the last person I'd want near them. He has a reputation for taking what he wants from women. I hope you understand what I mean. _

_So to protect them I took you, because I knew I needed an in somehow and I also knew I could handle Damien with the right cover. But you gotta believe this Hardison. I would never have let you drown. Never. I would have blown the whole con if he'd been one second longer throwing that key._

_I hope you can understand my position in that and know that I am sorry. But I'm more sorry that my past has come back to hurt you more than anything else. I really wished I hadn't had you find out like you did, but more I wish I hadn't had a past with the man. You have to know that I wish I could change that over everything I've done in my life._

_So believe me when I tell you I know I'm not a good man. I'm just tryin' my damnedest to be the best one I'm capable of being. I know it isn't much, but it's all I have. _

_Look, I kept you and the others safe for as long as I could. And I even shared some of myself with you guys. I cooked for all of you and that's a treat for me. I even let you take me 'fishin' once. Even if it was on a video game and let me just say this, that was the worst fishin' trip I ever had. And it was the best at the same time. I spent time with you so that made up for the lack of actually bein' able to reel in a big one._

_Now don't get me wrong, I still hate the video 'cause dude it's so not the same thing, but I will admit it was kind of okay spending time away from jobs and enjoyin' a brotherly kind of thing._

_That said, you gotta get out more. Step away from the screens and go outside. Yeah, I know you hate outside, you told me that on our first fishin' trip, but take Parker somewhere. She'll make up for the outside you hate so much. Go on a picnic or somethin', but don't just sit inside and don't go thinkin' about me. I'm okay. This is the way it should be. This is the way it was always supposed to be. I made my life, bro; so now I'm gonna go out because of it._

_I know Parker's crazy and a picnic for her may mean you have to drink champagne off the side of the Chrysler building or something, but at least you're outside and you're with Parker. And that's the way it should be._

_Remember enjoy your life and keep Nate in hand. Call him on his drinkin' and go see Sophie's plays and keep teaching Parker about pretzels. Yeah I know all about pretzels, dude. I'm a hitter, I'm not stupid. _

_I've seen you two and I remember pretzels too. So just remember to take care of her and the team. You are the one I'm putting my trust in to keep them together when I'm not there. I need to know you will try to watch over them the same way you always have. And while I admit you're good, I'm not gonna confess my undying feelings here 'cause just in case I ain't dead, I don't want to hear you rub it in. And trust me if there's anyway I can get back I will be back. Believe that._

_The one thing I've learned about being a part of this team is that you are all family. My family. And while I've not had the most pleasant past, being a part of this team has been my one saving grace. My only regret is that if I'm not there, I won't be a part of the family anymore. _

_However just remember this, I am watching. And if you fuck up in any way Hardison I will be there to kick your ask! Or haunt your ass! Yeah if it's in anyway possible, I will be the one to come back and haunt you. I already have plans._

_If you happen to have some compluter glitches, think of me. I already wrote a program of my own that is set to work it's way into your software. Yeah, I hacked you dude! I've learned a few things. Just remember that. Not just a pretty face here! _

_Of course if you're too worried right now, you can just go check some of your older 'Doctor Who' files. Besides they weren't that great anyway. Who calls a doctor 'Who' anyway? Don't make no sense. Can't understand that at all. _

_So long Bro, _

_El_

Hardison felt the tear hit the last page as he'd tried hard to keep it from falling, but failed. He couldn't help thinking the guy really knew just where to hit. He laughed as he pictured having a picnic with Parker on top of the Chrysler building. Maybe someday when he lost all his brain cells. Yeah sure.

Then suddenly something else hit him. He wouldn't. Oh, man. Hardison jumped up and ran to his computer screen and rapidly hit a bunch of the keys in his hurry to pull up a file he was looking for. He hadn't seen these older shows of his beloved series in a while.

When he hit play and heard the familiar electronic tune of the Doctor Who theme come through he breathed a deep sigh of relief. Then suddenly the entire apartment seemed to reverberate with the resounding strains of Eliot's voice as he repeated the same phrase over and over. And over again. And Hardison hung his head. If Eliot isn't already dead he soon would be.

_Damn it Hardison! Damn it Hardison! Damn it Hardison! Damn it Hardison!_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

_If I Swallow Anything Evil_

_Put Your Finger Down My Throat_

_If I Shiver, Please Give Me A Blanket_

_Keep Me Warm, Let Me Wear Your Coat_

Roughly about 4:00 PM

"What's going on here, Mark?" Katharine turned on the doctor as soon as they were outside the room. "Why is that man being restrained and why is that man Evan Chapman keeping him here?"

Katharine was no idiot. True she'd come to help the doctor on the promise of being well paid to care for a gunshot patient that could not be taken to a hospital. The reasons Dr. Mark Richards had given her were that a family friend's brother had a precarious position with the government and they couldn't let his enemies know they hadn't succeeded in killing him. But now she wasn't sure what the truth was. It all screamed intrigue.

She had connections to the government in the form of the military herself. She'd lost her baby brother and then her older brother both in the Gulf war back in 2003 and 2004 and her husband had been in the war too. She'd lost him afterwards, with her daughter, but she didn't think about that right now. She had grown up an Army brat and her father had been a Vietnam veteran. She knew military the minute she saw it and Eliot Spencer was military all the way down to his toes. But she knew he was more than that. He was black or had been at one time. Deep dark black ops.

The man was more than what he'd allowed her to see and she knew he had done a lot and seen a lot because of his job so she didn't doubt the part of the story that he worked for the government, but after talking with him, she believed this Evan Chapman was not his brother. At least not in a conventional sense. Something was wrong here and she believed that Eliot was more a prisoner here. For all she knew – Evan Chapman could be the assassin meant to kill Eliot. But then she didn't understand why he'd been saved in the first place. Why kill and then not kill? One thing she knew for sure, Mark had no idea what was going on here.

Mark Richards sighed as he looked at Katharine Wakefield. He knew he shouldn't have involved her in this, but he'd needed a good surgical nurse and she was the best at Massachusetts General. He also knew she'd take the money and do her job. That is if he could keep her in the dark. He'd specifically left her instructions not to talk with the patient, but she'd done it anyway and he knew once Katharine got on a mission she was like a dog with a bone.

"Look, I'm not privy to all the details here. Evan Chapman is a high ranking officer in the Department of Defense and he said his brother had been injured and he needed help. He couldn't just take him to a hospital, it's all delicate. I know it's wrong to not report the gunshot wounds, but I figured since the government knew I was safe there, and the man needed my help. He would have died and he still could." The doctor ran a hand through his usually perfectly combed hair, and looked the woman directly in the eye. "I did what I took an oath to do. I helped a man that was dying and that's what I needed you to do. Help me save him and we have, so far. Let's just concentrate on his health and not the why. It's not our place to question that. For all we know he could be an assassin or something; maybe he's the bad guy here, and as such it's logical he'd be restrained."

"That man is not a bad man. I don't know about the assassin shit, but he's not a bad guy. He said Evan Chapman is not his brother, but they look enough alike to definitely be brothers, so there's something there, Mark. I don't like it at all." Katharine thought about it and she realized she'd never get Mark Richards to stand up and do anything. He was a weasel. A coward. He thought he was the next Dr. McSexy, but he'd never fooled Katharine. He was afraid of his own shadow if it were to turn on him. But he was the best thoracic surgeon at the hospital and he was very committed to the care of his patients. "Fine. I'll keep my mouth shut until we're done here, but just so you know, I really don't like this."

She knew she was on her own. She'd have to help Eliot Spencer herself. But she couldn't move him right now; that actually was the last thing this man needed. He was hooked up to machines. He had a two tubes in his chest for God's sake. And you couldn't just pull them out and walk away. One machine was keeping his lung inflated and releasing excess air due to the traumatic hemopneumothorax and another was draining the blood from his lung.

"Good, Kath. I think that's the best for now. Let's just make sure our patient lives for now and then we can worry about what's going on here." The man actually smiled at her as he patted her gently on her arm. "I'm just gonna head to my room for the night. Call me if anything changes in Mr. Chapman's vitals or anything happens. It's almost 6 now, so I'll relieve you in 12 hours." He handed her Eliot's chart and turned to head down the hall to the room he was using for the time being.

Katharine took the chart and set it down on the desk that had been set up outside Eliot's room for their use. She knew that she would have to change his transfusion bag as soon as Evan Chapman left him and then she'd try and see if he could handle some more ice. Then a thought hit her as she was absently thumbing through the chart.

Eliot was getting donated blood from his brother or whatever he really was, but something about that was bugging her. Wait, she thought. Eliot was AB positive which is a rare type. While it is not the rarest, it's close. Only about 4% of the worldwide population have AB positive. Which meant that while AB positive types can receive any blood type in a transfusion, they cannot donate except to another AB blood type through direct transfusions. Their blood is not accepted by other blood types. And Eliot's chart showed that Evan Chapman had AB positive too. This was significant. That meant the odds were greater that they were related.

This thought made her wonder what was going on here. She didn't know what to believe anymore. She believed Eliot when he said he didn't have a brother, but the blood typing was confusing. It was possible they could both be AB positive and not related, but it definitely made her think again. She needed more information here and she couldn't ask Evan Chapman and she wasn't going to ask Eliot.

No she needed to question someone who understood the deep dark secrets of the government and the military. She sighed as she realized she'd have to ask someone who had once been… well a friend. But she hadn't really talked to him since he'd come to her after her younger brother Luke's death. She had no idea where or what he was doing now, but she had one number that she knew would reach him.

She looked at the closed bedroom door and decided she would need to find someplace where she could make a call in private. She reached for her cell phone in her purse in the desk and pocketed it as she turned and headed down the hall outside to the terrace on the left side of the house in the back where she figured she'd find some kind of privacy. At least that's what she hoped. She had no idea she was being watched.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 4:15 PM

"Listen, I need some answers here and you're my only hope in this, Travis." Katharine said into her phone. She tried to keep her voice down, but she was having a hard time not getting angry with her brother's former best friend.

True she hadn't seen Travis is over ten years, but she had tried to keep in contact. The man was a ghost most of the time though. All she knew was he didn't work for anyone and yet he worked for everyone. He was deep into the black too. She knew that, so she hoped he'd help her out here.

She listened to the man's voice. "Look, Kat I'd love to help you, but I'm a little busy right now." He sounded winded as if he'd been working out or running.

Katharine smiled at the nickname Luke had given her a long long time ago and Travis refused to let die. She'd hated the name, but she'd always let Luke get away with it and as such Travis had picked up the habit. It brought back some old memories.

"I don't know what else to do here. The man is obviously into the same kind of thing you are and we both know you aren't a copy machine salesman. I don't see a big need for copy machines in the caves of Afghanistan or where ever you are right now. I can hear the echo and your out of breath, so you're either running or you're fighting. You can't fool me."

The man sighed on the other end. Damn the woman could get under his skin at the drop of a hat. "Okay fine. I can't possibly get to you before tomorrow night, but I'll try to expedite my departure from… my cave." He smiled at just how close she was. He wasn't in Afghanistan, but close – Uzbekistan's Peshagar was a cave, a big one. "What's his name?"

"Eliot Spencer."

The man choked on a breath at the name. Damn it again, he thought. Leave it to this woman to find the one man he had a rivalry with. "Kat, listen to me very carefully. Whatever you do, do not let anyone get to that man."

Katharine heard the strong tone of his voice. "Why? What's wrong? You know him, don't you?"

Travis Quinn couldn't help but smile at the memory of the broken ribs he'd taken three years ago from Spencer. Of course he'd given the man some of his own. "You could say that." He thought about this sudden turn of events. "Look the man is… well let's just say he's a colleague. I know what he's capable of, but I also know he's not into the same thing as me…at least not anymore. He's… well he's complicated."

"Am I safe with him?" Katharine suddenly panicked. Had she misread the man? Could he really be a bad guy? "Is he the bad guy?" She didn't want to think it possible that Eliot was bad, but she needed to know.

Quinn thought about that statement. "We're all bad guys Kat." He replied softly. "But let's just say, as long as you aren't on his radar, Eliot Spencer will not hurt you. I'll finish up here and take the next plane out. I'll call you tomorrow when I land. You have to find a way to get him out before then, do you understand? You can't stay there for long. This man who says he's his brother, well he probably has plans for Eliot and if you get in the way he won't hesitate to take you out of the equation."

"How the hell am I supposed to move him when he's hooked up to three different machines keeping him alive?"

Quinn thought about this. "He's really that close to death?" He was mildly surprised by that, but then again in their business they were always close to death.

"Yes!'" She gritted through her teeth at the man. "I can't pick him up and carry him out of here and I can't unhook him and roll him out the front door. There's guards all over this house. I can get him down to the basement where Dr. Richards has set up the test equipment and he has him scheduled for a scan in the morning before I go off duty, but the doctor would be with me. After that, I'm off duty for a few hours and come back on at 7 tomorrow night."

"Okay, I probably won't be there before then so that's good. See if you can get a lay of the land while you're off and I'll contact you while I'm en route with a plan. I'm gonna make a few calls and pull some help in for this. Just hang in there and if everything goes according to my plan, we will be coming for you. You won't have to get him out by yourself."

She breathed a sigh of relief at that, but she still was worried. "Travis, what about this Evan guy? Do you know him?"

Quinn thought about that. No one other than Eliot's own team knew very much about him, but he was willing to bet they didn't even know who this guy was. "There's only one guy I know of that may know who he is. I'll check that out too. Just hang in there and poke around descreetly. But be careful. And just wait. I'll be there, I promise."

Katharine ended her call as she stood there on the terrace thinking. She looked at her watch and realized she'd been there for at least twenty minutes and she needed to get back to Eliot in case something happened.

As she turned to return to her patient, she missed seeing Dr. Mark Richards looking down at her from the balcony overlooking the terrace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 4:40 PM

Travis Quinn slowed his pace as he pocketed his cell phone. He wasn't actually in the cave or he wouldn't have been able to get reception to his cell, but he was as close to the entrance as he could get to avoid the men he'd just liberated the item in his pack from. He smiled as he quickly entered the cave to stow the item until he could get it to his client. He had other things to handle right now and he knew the item would be safe. For now.

He thought of his best friend, Lucas Malone as he hid the pack in the place he'd already selected for just this reason. He hadn't really thought of Luke in ten years, but with Kat's call he knew it would bring up memories. He owed his life to Luke on that last mission, so in turn he owed Kat his help. He'd always thought of Kat like his big sister too, so it wasn't hard to agree to help her. But for Eliot Spencer?

To say he knew Eliot was understating it. The two hadn't always been on the opposite side, but they'd had their share of competition to say the least. They both had handled jobs in the past that had brought them in contact on several occasions. They were both specialists in their field and they both knew the other's reputation. The only difference between them now was that Eliot had changed sides, if there were sides in their business.

The business usually meant you worked for who ever paid the most and that's what Quinn did. It was all business for him, just do the job and collect his payment then move on to the next job. But Eliot was different now. Some said he'd lost his nerve. Some said he'd given up.

But Quinn knew that neither were true after their showdown at that airplane hanger. Eliot Spencer still had it and he'd beaten him. He might have walked away hurt, but he'd been the one walking away. And that had reluctantly given Quinn pause. He'd had to admit that time that yes Eliot had changed, but he'd also remained true to who he was. That man was the best in the business and if he was now using his skills in a different capacity, then let him.

Quinn was not a team player, but if it worked for Spencer then so be it. He wasn't gonna put the man down for that. Besides he'd always known he'd be seeing him again and it looked like that was about to become true.

As he returned to the entrance of the cave cautiously noting he hadn't been followed, he decided that if he did this and helped Eliot, then he'd be even with the guy and they'd go back to their own corners of the world. And no one would ever have to know he'd actually helped the great Eliot Spencer out.

He smiled as he thought about that. Yeah he'd be helping Kat, but he'd also be doing something he'd never dreamed he do again since losing Luke. And that was helping out a friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 4:30 pm

Detective Bonanno listened as David Hoskins, his lead CSI on Eliot's case explained the test results from the tissue that Dr. McEvoy had sent to have run asap. This changed everything.

"So you're saying that because the tissue was showing signs of decomp that the remains were deceased before the bomb blast?" He asked to make sure he was understanding.

"That's right Patrick. I tested the rate of decomp on the tissue and it tells me that this man was dead at least 24-48 hours before he was blown up in the blast. So that and the other results you have prove it can't be Eliot Spencer." He replied evenly. "I also can tell you that after examining the tissue, I'd say the man was in his late seventies at least. Maybe a little older, but he'd been in relatively good health I think. I mean I couldn't find any kind of decease in the tissue, but of course that doesn't mean anything without the organs to test. There's no way to tell how he died though."

"Late seventies?" The detective repeated. "Maybe it's an uncle. I spoke with his sister and their father is alive and he just turned 63. Now I have a whole new set of questions to work on."

"I've got Spencer's blood from the kitchen floor and the DNA from his toothbrush along with the report from the doctor you contacted for his records. They are a match, so he was shot in the kitchen where he bled out and then was somehow moved, but not to the garage. The blood trail you found ends at the garage door in the house. The amount of blood we found meant the guy was close to death if not already, but after the trail we have nothing on him in the rest of the house." The CSI paused as if he was turning pages in a folder. "I have all the photos from the scene and it looks like the guy just disappeared. We have nothing on how they got him out of the house, but I can tell you this, there were at least three intruders in that house."

"Three? You're sure?"

"Yep. Two sets of shoe treads were found in the kitchen around the blood, just from the tread on the soft stone floor leaving impressions, the shoes had to be new to leave a slight impression and not very special; just you're average workboots. But the third set was found in the blood trail. It was hard to define them at first, but after running all the photos through the computer, they showed up. The prints are from an older pair of boots, military issue combat boots. If I didn't know better I'd think the first two men were professionals and knew to wear the most common pair of boots out there, but the third, I just get the feeling he's not as smart. Military boots are not common and I can run them; I'll at least get an idea which branch uses this type of boot the most. They are also kind of small prints for military boots, size eight. The guy's kind of small or it's possible he's a she. That may help also. I'll let you know as soon as I get something on those."

"Yeah, do that. And let me know if you find anything else." The detective replaced the phone on his desk in its cradle as he thought about these new facts. Military boots meant military and he knew Spencer had ties to the military.

It was beginning to look like Eliot's past had caught up with him and he wasn't sure he'd be able to help him now. He reached for his cell phone in his pocket as he realized that maybe it was time Ford filled him in on just exactly what kind of man Eliot Spencer was.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

_No One Knows What It's Like_

_To Be The Bad Man_

_To Be The Sad Man_

_Behind Blue Eyes_

_Ending_

Roughly about 4:45 PM

"You left me with a friggin' lemon wedge? How would that have saved my life if I would have needed a weapon? Was I supposed to throw it at him?" Eliot winced as he realized just how whinny he sounded just then, but the woman had gone and left him with nothing but a piece of fruit for cryin' out loud. How in the world was he supposed to use that against Evan if he'd needed to fight?

Katharine tried hard to hide the smile she felt coming on at his sudden outburst directed towards her as soon as she walked into his room after she'd waited for Evan Chapman to leave. She had barely had time to reach for Eliot's chart to start writing down his current readings, when he'd started in on her.

"It was all I had on me at the time. I love the smell of lemons and I took it from my tea at lunch." She smiled at him trying very hard to contain her laughter at the look on his face. "Besides, do you know how dangerous lemon juice can be? If you had gotten him in the eye, it would have burned like a bitch." She said as she lost the battle to control her laughter. He was looking at her and he looked like a little boy; a mad little boy and she was willing to stake her life on the fact he'd never looked that way at anyone before. Ever. "Although you would be doing good just to move your arms seeing as how the chest muscles are connected to the arm muscles and you have four holes in your chest right now, 2 bullet wounds and 2 chest tube lines. So I'd be surprised if you good even wave bye-bye right now."

Eliot looked at the woman standing over him trying so hard to control herself, and he could not see how she found this funny. Women, he growled. But he did remember he had taken down the Butcher of Kiev with a little lemon juice. That had been a good takedown, too, he thought. "That's not funny, woman. I can show you a wave I can accomplish with very little effort."

She laughed outright then at the childish anger he was gaving off. "You're so cute when you're angry." She managed to get out between bouts of laughter. After that he just seemed to get red in the face.

Eliot looked at her as if she'd just grown another head. What in the world was he thinking asking her for help? This woman was crazy. Then he smiled inwardly as he realized that he probably sounded like a spoiled child. Okay so maybe he was upset, but what did she expect? He'd been shot for God's sake. What was he getting himself into here?

"I am not cute. That… would be… ridiculous." He managed to get out before he became short of breath.

Katharine immediately dropped his chart on the bedside table and reached for the oxygen mask resting above his head and attached it over his nose and mouth. She should have realized he'd over do things. He should be getting oxygen all the time. His lung was still not working properly to get air in and out. She reached up to brush his hair from his face as she made sure the mask was settled properly.

Eliot could do nothing but watch her as she placed the mask on his face. He quickly tried to breath deeply of the sweet pure air, but his lungs didn't work at full capacity yet. He managed to weakly lift his right arm and press it over his chest to help his breathing, but all he managed to do was cause himself more pain as he came into contact with the chest wounds.

Katharine reached over on the bed frame and pushed a button that slowly raised his bed so that he was almost sitting and that helped his breathing even out more. Then she pulled a syringe from her pocket of her uniform top and she reached for the catheter in the IV of his left arm. Eliot watched her with a darkening look crossing over his eyes. She noticed the look and hesitated for a just a moment.

"It's morphine; for the pain." She explained at the look. Did he think she would hurt him? After telling him she'd help him? She would never hurt him, surely he understood that. But then again, she was forced to remember she really didn't know him or what he'd just been through.

"How much?" He rasped behind the mask. His eyes never leaving the syringe in her hand as she hovered over the IV.

"What?"

Eliot swallowed at the dryness in his throat. "How. Much." He repeated slowly as if she were having trouble understanding english.

Katharine just looked at him. "If you mean the dosage, it's a double dose. Usually in the hospital, you'd be on a PCA, patient-controlled Analgesia, but we don't have that here. So you're on pain meds every half hour by injection. It's to help you to rest so you can heal. You do know you have to heal."

"I can't…" He paused to try and lick at his dry lips under the mask. "I can't be drugged up and sleeping. I need to be alert… so I can handle this situation." Eliot slowly moved his eyes from the syringe to her. He looked at her with such deep intensity. He needed her to understand that he had to stay alert to all possible dangers.

"This situation?" She asked him as she slowly moved closer to his arm in hopes of catching him off guard so she could slip the medication in his IV. "What situation is that exactly?"

"I can't be vulnerable right now. I have…I have to be… in control." Eliot remembered Evan's words from earlier. He couldn't let his guard down with that man coming after him. Evan had told him of some of his plans just to let Eliot know what was coming. What they had planned for him. And Eliot knew that now more than ever he had to know when it was coming and he also had to protect Katharine somehow without her knowing what could happen to her. She was in danger now that Evan had seen how close she'd been to Eliot when he'd walked in and that was not good.

Suddenly he snapped out his left hand and grabbed her left wrist as she was just about to inject the medication. The movement was so quick it took Katharine by surprise and she couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her. She looked from his long fingers wrapped around her wrist to his eyes. He hadn't moved anything except his hand and he'd been quick. Too quick for someone in his condition.

"No." He said simply o her.

At first Katharine felt panicked at this quick reaction, but as she took in the glazed look of pain in his eyes, she knew he wasn't meaning to hurt her. Whatever had happened here, he was just trying to keep some control over his body. She relaxed under his touch and smiled at him.

"All right. No pain med, for now. But you need something. You can't possibly survive the pain. There is a limit to everyone's pain threshold. And believe me when I say, I think you need something."

Eliot just continued to stare at the woman. He hoped the stare that he reserved for Hardison when he pissed him off would work on Katharine, but other than the surprise of his quick movement, she didn't seem to be flustered one bit. He narrowed his eyes at her hoping to convey a more sinister side to him. He needed her to fear him, at least a little so that he could get her out of this. After his talk with Evan, Eliot knew he needed to protect her from him.

"That won't work. I have…had two brothers. Growing up with them was a lesson in how to read a man's bullshit meter. And you Eliot Spencer cannot bullshit me. You are in pain and while I know you can be a formidable force when healthy, you are not going to scare me while you are laying in that bed." She pulled the syringe from her left hand and used her right to prepare to inject it as Eliot watched her.

Eliot couldn't let her drug him. He knew what was at stake here, and she didn't. "Look," he tried again, this time he softened his eyes as he spoke through the mask. "I need to be alert. I can't explain right now. I just…I just can't let you drug me. It's important for me to stay awake. Please…" He finished with a weak smile. The best he could come up with considering the stupid mask that covered his face was in his way. He even let the smile reach his eyes.

Katharine blinked. Then she blinked again. "Wow," She breathed softly. "I bet that took every ounce of strength you had. To beg and bat those baby blues at me. And while I am absolutely positive that you have had great success with that smile and eye combo, that won't work either. But I must compliment you on the fact you went from fierce pitbull to puppy dog face in the blink of an eye." She pulled at her still captive wrist and felt his grip tighten in reaction before he reluctantly let her go. "I'm not going to give you the full double dose, but I am giving you enough to take the edge off."

It was Eliot's turn to blink, because even though she'd said it wouldn't work, it had. She was lessening the dose. A sort of compromise. He looked at her as he felt the drug start working almost instantly. She was right, it was enough to take the edge off, but it was also enough for his vision to get fuzzy again and he felt slightly nauseous. He laid his head back against the pillows as she moved to recap the syringe and replace in her pocket.

He slowly reached up with an arm made of lead and removed the mask. He had to warn her to be careful. He needed to tell her to watch herself, but keeping his eyes open was becoming a contest of wills and he was losing. Damn it, the drug wasn't just taking the edge off. He realized too late that she had given him the full double dose after all.

"Kath…I need…I need you to be careful of…Evan." He tried to warn her. "I need… you to …"

Katharine turned from making a note in his chart to look at him. "What do you mean?"

Eliot blinked up at her. What was he saying again? Oh, yeah Evan. "Evan knows something or…he's…guessed something. He…he's watching you so… please don't do anything…"

Evan Chapman was watching her? Damn it, did he already know she'd called Quinn? She took a deep breath, what was she supposed to do now? "I'll be careful Eliot. Don't worry about me. Just rest now and we'll talk in a few hours." She patted his hand as he finally closed his eyes.

If Evan Chapman was watching her, then she didn't know how much time she'd have. She couldn't call Quinn again, he'd said he'd call her when he was heading her way. She couldn't call anyone else either. Not until she knew when and how she was getting Eliot out of here. So she'd just have to be sure she was ready at a moment's notice. She was raised by a father in the Army so she'd been raised to break camp in a second. She walked over to a dresser in the corner and picked up the medical bag Dr. Richards had brought in that morning with the extra medications and supplies for Eliot.

She carefully took stock of what was in the bag then added more bandages and other accessories from the drawers. Soon she had the bag packed and hidden in the closet behind some other equipment. She laid the other medications she'd need later on top of the dress as if in preparation for Eliot's next dosage and bandage checks so the Dr. wouldn't need to search for the bag. She checked the pluerovac attached to the chest tubes in Eliot and saw his numbers were still too high for it to be removed this soon. The best she could hope for would be in the morning. He'd be on it for a full 24 hours around the time she'd be ready to get off duty, so maybe the doctor would be able to remove at least the air vac tube.

But the tube that was draining his blood was another story. He wasn't getting off that one anytime soon. She'd have to see if Quinn could find a portable pleurovac before he came for them; something for just until they could get him to a hospital. She knew she was kidding herself if she thought she was going to be able to get him out of here on his two feet, but she knew they couldn't stay here. Not now. Not if Evan was becoming suspicious of her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 5:00 PM

Sophie Deveraux had spent the majority of her life not depending on anyone. Then she came across Nathan Ford. They were adversaries at one time, but she'd always felt a strong connection to the man. He'd been married then, but she knew someday she'd see him again.

Then he'd recruited her for that first job and everything that she had once known about the man changed. Suddenly she was a part of something she'd never expected to be a part of; a family. She had a family here with this team. And she'd never expected to ever feel something like the love she felt for them. She cared for all of them, especially Nate. But she depended on Eliot. That man was like a younger brother for her and she'd come to realize they all depended on him to protect them. They'd even begun to take it for granted that he'd always be there when they needed him.

Now it was Eliot who needed them. And she didn't know if they'd be able to come through for him. But she knew that Nate would never give up trying to help him, because that's what he did. He was their leader, their mastermind and she knew deep in her heart that if Nate had to pull in outside help to find Eliot he'd do it. And he had.

She sat quietly on the sofa in Nate's loft as he paced back and forth alternating in conversations with his contact on the phone who would soon be there and with Hardison who was monitoring his computers. He hadn't filled them in on who this mysterious contact was, but they'd soon find out.

She held the letter from Eliot and she couldn't help feeling it, turning it over and over in her hands as she debated reading it. A part of her wanted nothing more than to see what the man could have possibly written just for her and a part of her felt like she needed to wait and let the man himself tell her. She knew Hardison had gone off quietly to read his, but Parker had returned hers to Nate and it still lay on the coffee table in plain sight with her name written across the front.

She wasn't surprised at the nice neat handwriting Eliot had. Out of all of them, Eliot had the best handwriting. She always thought that for such a fierce man, a man who lived moment to moment, that it was oddly comforting that he took the time to make his writing as legible as he did. It was a strong script, yet it showed that he had a deeper core than anyone could guess. She'd studied handwriting as a part of grifting because a person's handwriting told so much about that person, and Eliot's writing told her there was a very deep core hidden inside him. He had a lot of emotions and not just the angry ones. His writing told her he was a well-rounded man who had a handle on many things. Eliot was multi-faceted and she couldn't help thinking of him as a diamond. A diamond in the rough.

She sighed as she decided her curiousity was going to get the best of her so she gently ripped the envelope and pulled out the two pages inside.

_Dear Soph-_

_What can I say to the one person who probably knows the most about me? Don't try and deny it, darlin'. I can always see it in your eyes when you're watching someone and then you suddenly get them figured out. You, my dear have a tell. Grifter or not, when you have figured out exactly how to work a mark, you have a tell. It's in your eyes. You can never completely hide what's in them from someoneone who knows what to look for._

_Don't worry, your marks haven't even guessed. They only see what you let them. But I know how to see past what the mark sees. I know you can see through me just as easily. I've tried to keep my past hidden, but there are things that just can't be erased from the eyes, isn't there?_

_I think you and I have probably had the most similarities in our lives. I may have had a family once, but I've known what it's like to be alone and only being able to depend on myself. Just as you have had to yourself. We both know the difference between just working people and then having to work people._

_That's why I'm gonna ask you to do something for me that I know only you can. I need you to watch over Nate. I know he can be difficult at times, but he really needs you. And in a way, I think you need him too. He is a good man, even if he is damn annoying with the way his plans go._

_His heart is in the right place though; even if he doesn't know it. He loves this team, but sometimes the job or con takes him over and he gets carried away. I've tried to keep him reined in when I can, just as I know you have. That's why I think he's gonna need you more than ever after this is all over. If I don't come back, take care of him and keep the team going the best you can. Don't let him drink too much and remind him that whatever he thinks he's chasin' in that bottle isn't gonna ever be as good as what's standing right in front of him._

_I'm gonna close now, cause this is more words than I intended to write. Just know that even though I may have been a bear, I really did care for this team. I lost most of my own family because of the choices I made and I was prepared to remain alone for whatever remainder of my life God granted me, so I count myself lucky that He saw fit to give me this team for the short time He did._

_So take care of them, they need you. Especially Parker. Keep telling her that Eliot would say there's something wrong with her, but that it's okay. And take care of yourself Sophie. Buy those boots I owe you and remember I'm watchin' from wherever I'll be._

_Eliot_


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

_Another Year Has Passed Me By_

_Still I Look At Myself And Cry_

_What Kind Of Man Have I Become?_

_-Man In The Wilderness-_

_-Styx- _

Roughly about 5:15 PM

_Nate,_

_Out of all these letters, I think this one will be the hardest. You know things about me that no one else does, not even my sister. I've slowly trusted you with some things, but others are harder. For the purpose of this letter, your knowing what you already do about me makes this a little easier. _

_I once had a father that was the best any kid could have, but when we lost my mother in that car accident I lost him too. I know that you must think that time I wanted to help Randy that maybe I was also a victim of child abuse. I never let you know whether that was true or not, but now let me tell you the truth._

_My father never physically abused me or my brother or my sisters. That being said, you also need to know that when my mother, brother and baby sister died, my father stopped living for me and Emma and himself. I know that is in a way a form of abuse in itself, but I know in my heart he never meant to hurt us in any way. He just didn't know how to go on without our mom. _

_I had grown to hate him during those years between losing them and leaving home. I know he had his own demons to struggle with, but he was so wrapped up in what he lost that he forgot what he still had. That's why I made a lot of decisions that I knew would disappoint him and for that, I will always be sorry. I wish I could go back and make things right, but I know that's most likely never gonna happen._

_I'm not gonna go through all the crap about who I was in the past 'cause that's not gonna mean a damn thing. The only thing that matters is who I am now, and I feel that's because of you. And this team. _

_I know you didn't chose us for your team, but you are the one who chose to _keep_ us as a team and for that I need you to know that I will always be grateful. I don't like to discuss feelings and crap, but I need you to know that being a part of this team gave me something I hadn't had in a really long time. A real family. And I respect you for that._

_I'm not saying you would ever replace my father, because you couldn't. What I am saying is that there are only four men in this world that I would die for. One sits in my childhood home back in Oklahoma hating me; one I hope to be able to pull out of the prisons of San Lorenzo when we get there; one drives me crazy with his Dr. Who and Star Trek crap; and the other is hopefully not having to read this letter right now._

_Nate, I need you to understand that when I didn't tell about Moreau, it wasn't because I wanted to protect him. I was protecting this team, but most of all I was trying to protect you. You are out of your league and you tend to push things. It's as simple as that. I know that going after him now is most likely a death sentence for me if he finds out, but I'm more worried about what he will do to this team…and you. I'm telling you this now in case I don't finish this. You need to know that if everything goes to hell you need to get the team out of there as fast as you can. Because believe me when I say this, if things go sideways, I know what the man can do and the last thing I want is to see any of you guys dead. I need to know you will be all right after...well, just after... _

_That's why I'm prepared to take the front line on this. I'm not playing the hero; it's just what needs to be done. If things go wrong, I need to take the hit because you and the team do not need to be on his radar. It's just what has to be._

_I do not plan on letting you or the team go down because of something I should have never let happen in the first place. I know it's because of me that we even made it across the Italian's radar. She made me as a connection to him, so she's using us to get to him. It's something I would do. And because of my connection to him, it's only smart that I take the hits. I'm the hitter, that's what I do. Protect my team; and I need you to know if I go down it won't be for nothing. I need you to get back home safe. _

_But when you and the team get back, stay together because you all need each other. Especially Parker. Be sure and watch out for that girl. She may be twenty pounds of crazy, but she's our twenty pounds of crazy. And I wouldn't change her for the world._

_And if there's any good that can come from my death, let it be one thing. Just one thing, Nate; for me, watch the drinking. I won't be there to push you away from that bottle, and you know only Soph and I can do it. She can't do it alone now, so help her out some. I'm not asking you to stop cold turkey, cause that ain't happenin'. All I'm asking is you push it away when it becomes the answer for everything your feeling. One is one, but two is too many and you have a family that depends on you. Don't let my death be just another reason to disappear inside a bottle; that's not fair to me or you._

_To be honest with you, it hasn't been fair to your son for you to do that either. Do you really think Sam would want to know that a drink is how you handle his memories? I think your son deserves to remembered without being drunk when you do it. If you think I'm overstepping saying this, then feel free to kick my ass, but I'm not taking it back._

_I know Sam deserves better from you than that and frankly, I do too. Just remember Nate, Sam is watching and so will I. And the next time I think you're going too far, I'll be there. And don't be surprised if I can still kick your ass from the beyond. _

_Eliot_

Nate Ford slowly let the letter fall from his fingers to rest on the dining room table where he sat with a bottle and an empty glass in front of him. He looked at the bottle and then back down to the last page of the letter he'd just read.

Damn it Eliot! He thought, as he couldn't help the small smile the words brought forth. He never thought the man would be so good at reaching people without being there in person to growl at them. And that's exactly what his letter had done; he'd reached Nate, deeper than anyone had before. Even more than Sophie, to be honest. And the things he'd brought up about Sam, just damn it all.

Sure he was mad at the mention of Sam, but he knew it was because Eliot was right. Sam did deserve better. But he didn't know how he could do better when all of this was happening right now. He sighed thinking maybe it had been a bad idea to read this letter right now, but he knew if he hadn't done it now he wouldn't have the courage to do it later.

Right now he really thought he needed that drink, but something was nagging at him and he knew it was Sam and Eliot. Eliot didn't realize it, but he was now working with his son's memory to get to him. He stared at that letter for what felt like an eternity before a well manicured hand reached for the letter and gently pulled it away, folding it and putting back in the enevelope.

Sophie put the envelope inside the jacket pocket of his suit coat that hung on the back of his chair and quietly sat down in the empty seat next to him. She reached for the bottle and the glass and poured a single finger of the Irish whiskey and handed him the glass.

"That is a gift from Eliot. Just one, then we go find him and bring him home."

Nate smiled a thank you as he took the glass and looked at her. "Yes." He turned to take in Hardison sitting at his computer typing furiously and at Parker hanging upside down from the upstairs banister staring at all of them, yet not really seeeing them. "One; then we go steal our Eliot back." He reached for her hand and downed the drink.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Somewhere in Eliot's past (again)_

_"__Emma?" Eliot's voice was just a whisper, as he silently walked into the kitchen where his sister was still doing the dishes._

_Emma Spencer turned to see her brother standing in the doorway with the darkness outside framing him. He looked troubled. She wrinkled her forehead at him. She should be mad at him for making her do every dish in the house, yet there was something in the way he was looking at her. She pulled her hands from the dishwater and grabbed a dishtowel drying her hands as she turned to face her brother._

_"__What's wrong El?"_

_Eliot didn't know how he should say this. Maybe he'd heard wrong. Maybe he hadn't just heard his mother say what she'd just said as he silently listened outside the dining room window. Maybe…_

_"__Eliot? What it is?" Emma's voice took on a worried note. "Is it Jasper? Did he get out of his stall again?" She walked over to him reaching out to touch his arm._

_Eliot realized that whatever he'd just heard, he didn't need to say anything to Emma right now. He needed to talk to his parents first. His first thought had been to run to her 'cause he always shared things with his sister; his twin. But this time things were different. Whatever he'd heard… well it didn't really affect Emma anyway, at least not as much as it would affect him. He drew himself up and tried to wipe the worried look from his features._

_"__No. Just wanted to see if you'd come running… and you did!" He joked. He'd pulled the emotional card on Emma before when she'd been mad at him, and it always worked. She wouldn't think anything of it. At least not right away._

_"__Oh you! You are just so mean!" She threw the dish towel at him as she laughed and went back to the sink. "Just for that, I'm tellin' dad that you actually tried drivin' his truck the other day when he was at the doctor's with mamma!" She threw back over her shoulder. But she was smiling._

_"__Yeah sure you will! How are you gonna explain you know about it without telling him you were with me?" He laughed back at her as he threw the dishtowel back and watched it land directly on her head. He quickly used the time it took her to dry her hands again and turn around to get the heck out of the kitchen and run for the safety of his room._

_Once there he slowly pulled off his sneakers as he sat at on his bed. He was thinking. Maybe he hadn't heard his mom and dad discussing Evan and Eaton as if they were their own children with his aunt and uncle. Maybe he'd heard wrong. But as he heaved a deep sigh, Eliot Spencer knew he hadn't. _

_He knew he'd heard correctly when he'd heard his mother say they'd given the twins to them to raise because she'd been too young to raise them. And he knew he couldn't change the fact that Evan and Eaton were not his step cousins. It made sense really. The pictures his mom had of the two when they were Eliot's age looked enough like Eliot to prove they were indeed his brothers._

_He didn't know how, but he knew he needed to know for sure. He'd have to talk to him mom sometime soon. He needed to know what secrets she was keeping from all of them, but most of all he needed to know if Evan and Eaton were really his brothers, would he be like them. One good, one bad. Which one would Eliot Spencer end up being like?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 5:30 PM

Liam Chapman watched as the two men in dark clothes came into the office he was using in the warehouse. They were the best money could buy and they'd do their jobs without asking questions. That's what he liked about both men. He could trust them to do whatever was needed as long as they got paid.

"Listen Evan, things aren't going as quickly as we'd like right now. Seems Ford as called in a former friend of yours to help him find Eliot. I told you Ford wouldn't believe the faked scene at Eliot's house. He may have at first, but once things started falling into place he'd question things. And it seems I was right." The man listened to Evan Chapman's response though his cell phone.

"I didn't expect him to believe it. I just needed to buy some time. And trust me when they start looking they'll be looking for Evan Spencer, AKA Evan Chapman, but they won't know where to look. That's why you were staking out the bar this morning. To see just how long it was before the whole team knew Eliot was gone. I know my job Liam, and you know I want payback for what happened to me just like you want for your brother Sean." Evan Chapman paced the office he was in at his home. He had to make sure Liam kept everyone on schedule here. Time was important.

As he talked with the other man, Sean's brother Liam, he continued to monitor the screen of his computer on his desk that showed everything that was going on inside Eliot's room right now. He didn't think anything of the nurse packing up the supplies until he saw her put the bag in the closet. That wouldn't have bothered him either if she'd just set the bag on the floor, but she took the time to hide the bag behind some medical equipment kept there. There was only one reason to hide a bag full of medical supplies.

This nurse, Katharine Wakefield was going to be a problem he'd have to handle and soon. He couldn't let her ruin what had been five years in the making. He wasn't going to let anyone interfere with his plans.

"Yes, exactly. Payback. I want Eliot Spencer to pay for killing my brother in that warehouse along with all the others, but I'm not sure you planned for who Ford has brought in to help him." Liam smiled as he thought about how this would really piss Evan off. The two men in front of him had done their job well in bringing him this news. "Seems he's found Whitmore. You remember him, don't you? Turns out Matthew Whitmore married Spencer's sister. He's family. You never knew that, did you, Evan?"

Evan stopped pacing as he took that it. No he hadn't known that, but then again he'd been thrown away like garbage when the government had gotten what they'd wanted from him. And he hadn't been on their contact list for the newsletter. If it hadn't been for the man he was talking too right now… well he would have been dead right now. For real. He'd used Sean's family to help him hide, and now he needed their help again to get justice for himself and is friend Sean.

"No, I didn't Liam. Look it doesn't matter, that just means I won't have to search out everyone I want to kill. If Whitmore is here, then I can take him down along with Spencer. Just make sure everything's ready for the day after tomorrow and I'll have Eliot there. Then we can both have a shot at him." Evan sighed as he watched the nurse move through the rest of the room doing what he was sure was probably normal as far as caring for Eliot. Nothing else seemed to be out of place. "I've got to handle something that has come up here. But don't worry I'll have Eliot at the warehouse on time and I won't be leaving any witnesses here when I'm done with this place."

As he hung up with Liam, he sat down at his desk and continued to watch the nurse. She was very pretty. It was a shame he'd never get to _know _her. There just wasn't enough time for him to enjoy himself right now. He smiled somewhat sadly at that thought. A pity really, she was quit nice to look at.

No, right now he needed to find the doctor and make sure everything was going according to plan as far as keeping Eliot alive; for now. This nurse was just a little glitch and he'd take care of her soon enough. She wasn't going anywhere and for now he needed her to help keep Eliot alive. He'd let her continue thinking she was going to be the hero and save Eliot Spencer and then when the time was right, he'd take care of her.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: So sorry it's been so long in updating. Had a lot of things going on at once. I have a new chapter here and another in the works hopefully will update by this weekend. Thank you all for the reviews and positve input. I love you all.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

_All of the years I've spent in search of myself_

_And I'm Still In The Dark_

_'__Cause I Can't Seem To Find The Light Alone_

Travis Quinn stood outside on the balcony of his room in the modest hotel where he was staying in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. He'd just spoken with his contact that would get him on a plane and headed for the states by noon. He'd had to call in a lot of favors and make some of his own to get a straight passage to Boston.

He'd have to head out in a couple more hours so he could get to the airfield without being detected, but until then he had time to call the one person he knew would have the info he needed on Spencer. The man wasn't exactly a friend, to say the least, but he would tell him what he wanted to know. And right now that was more important.

He knew he'd do this for Kat, he always did whatever Kat asked of him, but a small part of him was also doing this for Spencer too. The man was very good at what he did, and he'd never heard of Eliot Spencer ever owing someone a favor. If he did this for Kat, for Eliot, then maybe just maybe he'd have Eliot owing him for a change and not the other way around.

He sighed as he reached once again for his cell phone and punched in the number he'd remembered from a not so distant past. He'd needed this man's help once before and now he'd be needing it again, except it wouldn't be for himself; it'd be for Eliot Spencer. The man didn't have anything nice to say about Quinn, but he was always ready to help Eliot whenever he needed help. And Quinn suspected the man would know exactly who was behind this and how to help him to help Eliot.

"Yeah?" Came the caustic reply as Quinn remembered the man behind the voice.

"I just have once question, Colonel." He stated as he took in the starry sky overhead.

"Yeah? And what might that be, Quinn?"

"Who took Eliot Spencer and how can you help me save him?"

The man on the other end chuckled. "That's two questions and what makes you think I know where the man is?"

"Because, Colonel, you are the closest thing he's ever had to family and you'd know what's going on. The great Colonel Michael Vance would never miss not knowing what was going on in Eliot Spencer's life."

There was a long pause before the man on the other end replied. "And if I did know what was going on with Spencer why would you want to help get him back?"

"Because he's with a friend of mine and I don't want her dragged into whatever is going on here."

"Her? Does your friend have a name?" Vance asked taking in the tone of voice Quinn had used when he'd mentioned her. She was important to him.

"Katharine Wakefield. Or maybe you'll remember her full name…Katharine Malone Wakefield."

Again there was a long pause before the man replied. "I'm guessing Malone as in Lucas Malone?"

"Yes and she's more important to me than you could possibly know. She's the closest thing I have to family and she's trying to protect Spencer. You know how it goes with him, women fall down for him. She's not that type, but she definitely knows he's in trouble and wants to protect him. Seems he was near death and is still in dire need of medical help."

"As I recall Katharine is a nurse; so she's keeping him alive?"

"Yes. I'm on my way to Boston shortly, and I need to know what's going on and how to get them out of danger. So I'm asking for information and some help with this." Quinn hated needing help from anyone, especially the military, but for Kat he'd bow down and do what was necessary to protect her and by extension Spencer.

"I'm already in Boston heading out to speak with his team. Nate Ford contacted Whitmore who contacted me. How soon can you be here?"

"Tomorrow by midnight. I'm not in the states right now and I'm…tying up some lose ends before I can get there." He hated being so far away, but it couldn't be helped.

"Okay. Well tell me what you know and I'll tell you what I know and we'll come up with a plan."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was exactly 5:40 pm when Nate Ford opened the door to his loft and found Detective Bonanno standing on his doorstep.

"Hello detective. You come up with anything new?" Nate asked as he stepped back to allow the detective to enter the room.

Bonanno noted that Hardison was at his usual spot working on several computers at once and Sophie Devereaux and the girl they called Parker were seated on the sofa. He noted that everyone with the exception of Parker seemed to be okay with his arrival. Parker seemed to be annoyed he was there. Like he was their enemy. He smiled to himself because he probably was their enemy of sorts considering what he knew about their previous profiles as well as what they were doing nowadays.

"Yeah, but what I'm about to say does not leave this room." Bonanno replied as he walked over to sit at the dining table with Nate following. Sophie got up from the sofa and headed over to sit down next to Nate.

"You have my word, Patrick." Nate said as he took in the other man and his disposition.

Sophie looked at the detective as she tried to read him. He was hard to read though, the man was very good at keeping his face as neutral as possible, but she could sense he had something important to tell them.

Bonanno took a deep breath and spoke. "It seems the remains are not Eliot's as I stated before and whoever he was, he was related to Eliot. What's new is that we now know the person was already dead at least 24-48 hours before being blown up. And we know that he was male and in his seventies at least." He paused before continuing. "I also know that there were three intruders. Two men for sure and the third was either a small man or a woman."

"A woman? Are you sure, detective?" Sophie seemed surprised that a woman would be able to get the drop on Eliot. But then again she was surprised anyone had been able to get the drop on him.

"Well, we're going off shoe prints and the third person is a lot smaller than the first two. My CSI guy thinks the prints belong to military boots and is working on trying to isolate a particular brand which could give us the particular branch of military they are most associated with."

Nate thought about that. Military made sense based on Eliot's spotty history. He knew Eliot started out in the military. "So when will you know for sure?"

"Anytime. I've told David to call me the minute he gets anything. But what I'm the most confused with is the fact that the remains were from such an older individual and related to Eliot. I spoke to his sister and she says her father is very much alive and he's nowhere near the age placed on this person. So that's a major puzzle hitting right in the middle of all this other crap going on."

"I know that's right." Hardison said from his seat across the room.

Bonanno looked confusedly at Hardison then turned to face Nate. "How does he do that? He's got the ears of a bat or something."

Nate smiled as he reached up and pulled his earbud from his ear and laid it on the table. "Something like that."

Bonanno looked at the device. "Is that…is that an earbud? The guy heard every word we said?"

"The guy can _still_ hear every word you're saying'." Hardison said turning to smile at the detective.

"Okay." Bonanno said as he took that in. Then a thought hit him. "You wear these all the time? All of you?"

Nate knew what he was getting at. "Most of the time, but before you ask, Eliot wasn't wearing his. He must have taken it out. Hardison keeps records of when we're wearing them and when we're not. Eliot's wasn't transmitting."

"Damn." The detective said. "Wait a minute. No earbud was found at the crime scene. I'd know if there was. So where is his earbud?"

Nate looked at Hardison as the man returned his look. They both responded with "Damn!"

"Hardison-"

"I know – I'm on it." The man spun back around and began to furiously pound at his keyboard for a few minutes.

"What? What is it?" Bonanno watched as the guy seemed to be in another world.

"It's possible that even if Eliot wasn't wearing his earbud, he may have had it on his person. And Hardison has GPS trackers on all of us through our earbuds. It's possible it might be working if whoever took Eliot didn't know he was carrying it."

Everyone in the room turned to watch as Hardison worked. Finally they heard him give a resounding "Whoop!" as something flashed over the monitors in front of the sofa.

Parker got up and walked over to the lines that showed each of them in the room with green lines which indicated they were all wearing their earbuds. Eliot's line was red. Then another monitor flashed with a city map and there was an annoying red light blinking on the screen.

"Where is he Hardison?" She asked as she turned to him.

Hardison had been so excited when he'd first seen the signal coming from Eliot's earbud, then he felt his excitement abate. "City dump. Either Eliot is being held at the city dump or his earbud hitched a ride there."

The disappointment in his voice was so strong that all of them in the room knew. This was another dead end.

"Damnit Hardison!" Nate said as he got up and moved over to stand near Parker.

"I know. I tried to find him via his earbud as soon as you told me too, but at that time it was off, so I just assumed it'd been left at his house. I should have checked it again. Damn it, I should have checked it again."

Bonanno got up and walked over to the map as he took in the blinking light. "Okay, so the earbud was turned off then, but why has it been turned on now just to show you it's at the city dump? Why turn it on at all?" The detective turned to look at Hardison. "Why do that? Why not just leave it off so you could assume it was left behind."

"What are you getting at detective?" Sophie asked as she too walked over to the group.

"I'm saying that it's possible someone is wanting to either mislead you or possibly help you. Someone who knows about the earbuds. And I'm saying that there's a warehouse district not to far from the dump. Is it possible to scramble the signal a little to mislead you? And if so why?"

Nate looked between the map and the detective. "Someone knows about Eliot's team and they want us to follow this signal. There's no reason to turn on the earbud unless the person wants us to track it. Either they want us to walk into a trap or they want to help us out here."

"Exactly."

"Hardison can you figure out if the signal is being scrambled?"

The young hacker grinned. "Can Elvis sing?" He smiled as he turned his back a moment to pick up a laptop from a bag under his worktable. As he set it up next to his main keyboard, he added, "I can do anything, man. All I need to do is run a program to eliminate the rhythms of the current frequency and thin out the signal. This should give me an exact location of the earbud, but it'll take a couple hours to run."

"Get on it." Nate said with a grin as the first real sign of hope crossed their path. "Just work your magic."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly 6:00 PM

As Matthew Whitmore listened to the one-sided conversation between Vance and who he now knew to be Travis Quinn, he steered the SUV he was driving into the alley behind McRory's Bar. He pulled up to a stop next to a standard blue Crown Victoria cop car.

He didn't think anything of the car, even if it was a cop, they didn't know what was going on here with Spencer and there was no way they'd be able to help out much. He turned off the ignition and pocketed the keys as Vance ended the call.

"Well?" He asked.

"Eliot's alive, but barely. We have someone on the inside and it is Evan who has him. Quinn didn't have much in details, but he's heading here and should be here sometime tomorrow night. The insider is a woman and an old friend. She's Malone's sister." He said as he reached for the door handle and opened his door. "She doesn't know who Eliot is or who Evan is, but she's a nurse and she was hired along with a doctor to help keep Eliot alive."

Lucas Malone's sister and Eliot Spencer… together…that couldn't end well. "Is he in contact with her right now?"

"Yeah. But he's outside the states, and he won't tell me anything else until he gets here. Seems he doesn't trust us to go in and rescue them without causing any problems."

Matthew smirked at that. "Of course he doesn't." He paused as he reached in the back seat for the duffle he needed. "Can we trust her? I seem to remember the woman as being...very uncooperative when she'd been informed of her brother's death." That was an understatement, he thought with a slight laugh.

Vance thought back to that day. Mission gone bad, she'd been told. She hadn't bought that then and he knew she wouldn't buy it today. And she'd been right. Vance had wished he could have told her the truth, but things were..complicated. The military was always complicated. But one thing for sure, this woman as well as Quinn couldn't be allowed to find out the truth of who actually killed Lucas Malone. If they did, they could jeopardize this whole rescue. If they knew just how close they were to the person who'd killed Lucas Malone, they'd ruin everything. Because one thing Vance knew for sure was if Evan was holding Eliot, then the person who killed Lucas Malone was with him.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

_Sometimes I Feel Like A Man In The Wilderness_

_I'm A Lonely Soldier off To War_

_Sent Away To Die, Never Quite Knowing why_

_Sometimes It Makes No Sense At All…_

_Makes No Sense At All…_

Roughly about 6:00 PM

Parker swiftly eased herself onto the bar's rooftop. She'd used her gear to move quietly from the loft as the others watched Hardison working to track Eliot's earbud. She knew Hardison would find something, but she also knew it would be a while and she needed time to herself. She always enjoyed coming up to the roof whenever she needed room to breathe or just to think.

Eliot knew she spent a lot of her time up here even if she was supposed to be in her own apartment. He understood her need for wide open spaces where she didn't have to listen to people. She loved being a part of this team, but it was still hard for her to be in a room full of people. Especially when they were all just as worried as herself over finding Eliot.

She missed him. She truly loved each of them, especially Hardison, but she missed Eliot the most. He helped ground her. She knew she could ask him anything and he'd tell her the truth. He'd never lie to her. Eliot always explained things to her in a way she could understand and he never looked at her like she was crazy. She knew everyone thought she was a little crazy, but hell who wouldn't be after the life she'd lived.

If she hadn't been taken in by Archie, she'd probably be in jail right now. He taught her how to be good at what she did and she loved moving among people and not being seen. She had gotten so used to that, that it was hard sometimes to try and be a normal part of something.

But with Eliot she could tell him how she felt. Yeah he always told her something was wrong with her, but he'd also told her that it was okay to have something wrong with her if it made her _her. _And while she'd tried hard to do a lot of things others did, she still needed to have her own space. So here she was taking time to breathe.

She reached into the pocket of her jacket for the envelope she'd snaked from the coffee table while the others where busy with their electronic tracking and waiting for the friends of Eliot's to come help. She'd meant it when she said she didn't want to read her letter from Eliot because to her he wasn't dead. They'd find him and she knew he might be a little upset if he knew they'd read those letters to all of them.

But she also couldn't help wondering what he had to tell her that she didn't already know. She was planning on sneaking the letter back on the coffee table when she went back before anyone took notice, so she only had a few minutes at best to see what he had to tell her.

She carefully pulled back the sealed flap and pulled out the pages .

_Parker, _

_God where do I even start with you. I thought writing your letter would be the easiest, 'cause I know I don't have to explain things to you like I do Nate, Sophie and Haridison, but now that I'm doin' this it's really just as hard._

_Okay so remember when I told you not to ask me about the worst thing I ever did when I worked for Damien Moreau? Well, it's because I didn't think you'd understand. You remember how that psychic broke you when he read you about your brother? Remember how devastating it was to know someone was somehow getting into your mind and reading your inner most thoughts? _

_It's Hell. So, that's why I've made the decision now to tell you what the worst thing I ever did was and I hope in the end you will try and understand and try to remember me without remembering what I was capable of. _

_I'd prefer you didn't tell anyone else and I'm really hoping you can do that. Without me there, you may find it easy to tell and I don't need anyone else hating me anymore than I know you will or I already do. You see it's not that easy sometimes getting past our past. You think people don't understand you, but they do. They really do. And you sharing your secret about your brother brought everything home for all of us._

_You can understand how it is for Nate to lose his son. Hardison and Sophie can probably sympathize with him, but they will never know what it's like to lose a son… or a brother. I know what it's like to lose not just one brother, but three and a sister along with my mother._

_I lost my baby brother when he was around seven in a car accident along with my baby sister and my mom. I lost an older brother, Eaton to the war in Iraq that I didn't even know was my brother until I was thirteen. And then I lost another, Evan about five years ago. Evan and Eaton were twins and as different as night and day. Eaton was good and...well Evan wasn't. What I think will make it hard for you to understand is that I am the one who took Evan's life. I'm the one who stopped his heart, I'm the one responsible for ending him._

_I knew who he was and I still killed him because I'd been ordered by Moreau to do it. You see, Evan worked for Moreau and that's what lead me to him too. I'd become disillusioned by the military and Eaton couldn't understand that. He loved the military. But to me the things I'd had to do for the Army didn't seem any different than the things I'd be doing for Moreau. I was in a dark place then and Evan wasn't a good man. He had never been a good man. Eaton tried to help me, but he didn't understand. He'd tried to help Evan too. He was always trying to help Evan. Their being twins, they'd taken each other's place a lot growing up and Eaton tried to protect Evan, but he couldn't do it in the end. When I got the news that Eaton had been killed in Iraq I just lost all faith in the military and I ended up joining Evan… and joining Moreau._

_Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to justify my actions, because I'll never be able to. But Evan was just as evil as Moreau. At least he was until Moreau found out Evan was working against him and for his own agenda._

_Moreau ordered his death and he ordered me to do it. To prove myself. I didn't hesitate, Parker. You have to know that. He told me to kill my brother and I did it without a word. I blamed Evan for a lot of things and it was so easy to just come up behind him and slit his throat. No remorse…not then. Not until I'd learned the real reasons behind Moreau wanting him dead. Those reasons aren't really important anymore, what's done is done and I'll never be clean of that. I'll always have blood on my hands…always…_

_I just hope you can remember the good times we've all had, and know that I've tried hard since then to do what's right, whatever that is. I know you may not understand, but I needed to have at least one person who knows my worst secret. I know where I'm headed and I've made my peace with all of this a long time ago. I'm just trying to see my way clear enough so that I can at least make sure those I've left behind can find a little peace too._

_I'm not a good man, Parker. I don't think I've ever been a good man, not really. My father saw it in me and the only people I've ever been even a little open with is all of you. The team… Just remember I tried to do the right things in the end and I wouldn't trade a single minute of the time I was given with all of you. _

_Sometimes the only way to stop hating myself is to just stop living. I'm not going into this with a death wish, but I'm not going out of my way to stop the bullet if it happens to find my heart. I've done a lot of things, good and bad, but the bad will always be what's remembered. I'm asking you to try and remember a couple of the things I've done that weren't so bad. _

_I know telling you this story isn't a good thing, but I want you to know that you above all of the team, well you are the one I know will keep my secrets even if you don't agree with what I've done. I know you'll see me as both a bad man and a not so bad man. And right now that's all I can ask for._

_Take care Parker and remember..._

_There's nothing wrong with you…_

_There never was…_

_Eliot_

Parker looked at the pages in her hands as she sat there with her thoughts going in a million different directions. She didn't hate Eliot. She'd never hate him. And regardless of what he'd just told her, she knew there was more to it than just black and white. She wasn't stupid. What she couldn't figure out is how Eliot had missed it.

She folded the pages back and resealed the envelope after stuffing them back inside. She didn't cry, because right now she wasn't hating Eliot. She was mad. She was mad as hell at him for thinking he could only trust her with this secret.

He was wrong, she wasn't going to be able to keep his secret; at least not all of it. She'd keep it from him though. One thing for sure, Parker knew for a fact when they found him she was gonna strap a damn harness on his ass and throw him off this figgin' building. Because he was such an idiot. A god-damned idiot.

She smiled as she thought about seeing Eliot falling and maybe seeing a little fear in his eyes before he'd close them off and lean into her as she guided him down. Yeah, she was so gonna throw his worthless ass off the building when they got him back and then she was gonna burn this letter.

Because no matter what Eliot thought about himself, she would never be convinced he killed his own brother just because he'd been told to. No, Eliot was deep. He was friggin' volcano deep and if anyone needed a reason to kill, it was Eliot Spencer. No matter what he said, Eliot was trained to protect and at heart he always killed because someone else needed protecting. And what's more she knew he didn't know the truth. There was more here than he was telling her in his letter.

She reattached her harness and moved to the roof's edge slipping the letter back inside her shirt as she smiled deeply and made a promise to the man. She was gonna save his worthless ass even if he didn't think it was worth saving. She was gonna save Eliot she thought as she jumped off the building.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 4:00 AM Uzbekistan time

Roughly about 6:00 PM Boston time

After finishing his call to Vance, Quinn had received a call from his contact. If he could get his butt to the airfield the guy could fly him out right now and get him to his exchange plane in time to get to Boston before nightfall. Since Uzbekistan was about ten hours ahead of Boston, he'd arrive there when it was still today.

Sometimes he hated thinking in terms of days when he had to travel somewhere where the time zone was ahead. He always felt a little like he was time traveling when he could get back to the states before he'd actually left. He would call Vance and tell him exactly when to expect him once he was in the air, but right now he needed to hurry.

It was closing in on 4 am here and the streets were dark, so anyone traveling this time of night would be noticed if anyone else was up and awake to notice. He quickly stuffed his things in his duffle bag and used the back stairs to exit the hotel. He'd paid his bill ahead so there was no need for the process of checking out. No one in his line of work ever really worried about checking out anyway. You never knew for sure when you'd be having to make an exit, so rule of thumb was to pay for several days in advance.

As he slid behind the steering wheel of the jeep he'd rented, his mind took on the memories of his own life in the military and how things had once been good. Hell, he'd even been friends with Eliot once. He'd been on a couple of missions with the man when he was leading his own black team. The guy had been young, but he was good at what he did and he always made sure they all got out.

That was until Lucas Malone ended up on a mission with both Eliot and Quinn. That mission had been the beginning of the end of any friendship between the two. It had been the end for both of them. They never worked with a team again after that. Eliot went his way and Quinn went his. But they both knew it was because of what happened to Lucas.

Quinn sighed as he thought of that mission. If Kat knew just how well he and her brother had known Eliot she'd probably never agree to help the man. But it was because of Eliot that her brother had even been brought back to the states after… well just after.

Luke wasn't in black ops like Quinn or Eliot. He'd been a member of the 20th Engineer Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, but he'd been assigned to help get him and Eliot to their destination. Quinn and Eliot were there in Bagdad to liberate a freedom fighter that was being held in one of the city's buildings.

Their driver had just let the two of them off at the spot where they'd meet up again in an hour when they were attacked. They were there for a combat operation and a sniper had found them. Luke went down first protecting his younger companion, the driver. Luke had been only 28. The same age as both himself and Eliot.

It had been Eliot who'd grabbed Luke and pulled him behind a broken wall for some protection, but the damage was done. Luke was gone and when the military got word back to the government the blame had been put on the mission and the mission's leader, Eliot.

Eliot had been leading the mission and it had just been a coincidence that Luke had been sent to guide them in. Quinn hadn't seen him since basic. Luke wanted to be an officer so he went one way while Quinn followed the dark path. He wanted to be the hero, the guy who swooped in undercover of darkness and rescued the hostages and made America proud.

Boy had he gotten an eye opener when he'd met Spencer and he'd told him what he was really in store for. Eliot had been the same age as Quinn, but he'd been doing this a lot longer and he was the Commander. He was a leader. Quinn learned what he could from Spencer, but he'd never completely agreed with the man on everything and when he'd lost Luke he blamed Eliot too.

Eliot had blamed himself as well. He took every man he lost as a personal loss. But Quinn knew now that it wasn't Eliot's fault anymore than it was Luke's. The person to blame was the sniper and he'd enjoyed every minute he'd spent taking that ne guy apart piece by piece. Spencer didn't know he'd found the last sniper later on or that he'd taken him out, but Quinn knew and he knew Luke knew. It had taken a long time, but he'd found one of the snipers and learned that Eliot had taken out the others when he'd been captured after that mission. So all of them were gone now and Luke had been avenged.

He sighed as he drove through the dark heading back to help a man he'd once blamed for taking his best friend. He didn't blame him anymore, but once things had been said it was hard to unsay them, and in a way Quinn was still angry. Eliot had taken the blame then just like he knew he'd still take it today. No matter what had happened, Quinn knew it wasn't Eliot's fault. The man had made sure Kat had a brother to bury and that was more than any other commander had ever done for his men back then from Quinn's experience with the military.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 6:30 PM

"Okay, Ford." Major Matthew Whitmore said as he sat across from the mastermind at his dining room table. "Let's go over what you know."

Hardison was still hard at work on his computers running his programs when the two military men arrived just as the Detective was about to leave. Nate asked the detective to stay though and go through what he could with the two military men as both himself and Sophie sat at the table with the them.

Nate had noticed that Parker was missing, but figured she'd sneak back in sometime as she probably needed time alone. She did that a lot and he was willing to look the other way. And he'd spotted the missing envelope from the coffee table just minutes after noticing her absence.

"All we know for sure is Eliot's not dead, but someone is and that person was elderly and related to Eliot. We also know that the people who took him are probably tied to the military." Nate said as he looked at Bonanno for verification.

At Bonanno's nod of agreement, Whitmore looked at Vance to see what he thought they should say with the cop in the room. "Well, we don't know who the remains could be, but we do have an idea who's behind this and it is tied to the military." He paused as he turned to look at Hardison who seemed to be busy at his workstation. "Do you want to have your guy there join us so we can get this all out in one sitting?"

"No need, I hear you guys." Hardison said without breaking his stride of typing on a different computer keyboard for each hand.

At Bonanno's chuckle, Whitmore raised his eyebrows. "Earbuds?" He asked, smiling.

Hardison just nodded as the others at the table watched. "How'd you guess?" He asked, as he finally stopped and turned around to face them.

"Heard you talking about running a program on Eliot's when we walked in." Vance said for Matthew. "But it wouldn't be hard to guess. Eliot's mentioned them once or twice. He's probably never told you how much he actually loves the things."

Hardison seemed surprised at the information, but then he smiled. "My boy like's my toys? Alright." He said nodding and turning back to his computers.

Nate couldn't help a smile at that either. Eliot really did love a lot of Hardison's toys. He just loved driving the guy crazy as well. Just like brothers did. He thought again about how much the two acted like brothers.

"Okay, so where do we start?" Vance asked. "You tell us what happened to Eliot piece by piece and we'll fill you in as we go along. And detective, I don't have to tell you that even though this is currently a criminal case, it won't be pursued as such. Both the victim here as well as the criminals are military and a military court will probably be handling this once when we get Eliot back."

Bonanno looked at the Colonel. Yeah, right he thought with a smirk. "Sure. Just like nothing ever happened, right? You swoop in rescue Eliot and somehow the criminals end up getting away or conveniently dying?" He asked as he thought about this whole mess. He didn't want to admit it, but once he'd have argued jurisdiction. Yeah, once, but not now. He'd let the military do what they needed to do in this case. As long as he didn't see anything or know how this all ended up, he could plainly apply plausible deniability.

"Yeah exactly like that detective." Whitmore answered for them. "Eliot may not be active military, but just in case anyone needs a cover, he's always been listed as inactive and available for recall at anytime. And despite what the general military does, I take care of my guys; good or bad."

"And which is Eliot?" Parker asked coming up to the table. "Because I won't let anyone sit in on this unless you are all in this to get him back no matter what."

The others were surprised by her sudden appearance. Nate quickly recovered and noted that the girl looked better than she'd looked earlier. Like she'd made an important decision about something. He just wondered what she'd found in her letter. He glanced around her and he could plainly see the envelope was now laying back on the coffee table. He smiled at her as he took in her whole demeanor. Yes she'd definitely made up her mind about something and he could only guess that whatever Eliot had said to her, it had renewed her determination in finding the man.

Whitmore stood up to take in the girl his wife had told him a few things about via Eliot. She was a little thing of a girl, but he agreed with Eliot. She could hold her own here. He could see it in her stance. This girl knew what was going to go down and she knew exactly everything she needed to know. He smiled as he motioned for her to take his seat and he moved to sit in the next one.

Parker sat in his offered seat, but she didn't relax. "I mean it. If anyone at this table is thinking of keeping any of the others in the dark, we end this now. I don't want anyone here who isn't going to help Eliot or tell us the truth. No lies, no secrets. I know Eliot's done a lot of bad things, and that this is because of one of them. I also know it's his brother who has him. His not so dead brother."

Parker took in the surprised looks she received from everyone at the the table. She'd had time to think after reading Eliot's letter and she knew that even if Eliot had killed one brother, having a twin meant a lot of things and she knew something Eliot hadn't said in his letter that had her thinking. They all had ties to the military and Damien Moreau. He'd killed his brother alright, but she knew he hadn't killed Evan. Eliot had killed Eaton. And she knew Eliot didn't know which one he'd killed or he'd be behaving differently in his guilt.

No, if Eliot knew he'd actually killed the good brother, he'd be in worse shape in the guilt department. So the one thing they needed here was the truth and they all needed to know so they could make a plan. So Nate could make a plan. She looked at the mastermind and hoped he understood just how important the truth was here. The truth was what they needed.

"Parker's right. The truth, no likes or half truths here. We need the truth. And since Parker has figured out a few things, perhaps we should het her lead this discussion." Nate said as he motioned for her to take the floor. He knew she needed this and he knew once they had the truth then they could all focus on stealing their Eliot back.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

_Ten Thousand People Look My Way_

_They Can't See The Way I Feel_

_Nobody Even Cares To Try_

Roughly between 7:00 and 7:30 PM

"Go ahead Parker," Nate encouraged the young thief to fill them in on what she had to say. "I'm guessing you've found out something important, so please tell us." He watched the woman suddenly shift a bit in her seat as the group around the table now focused their attention on her.

"Okay." She paused as she turned to Whitmore and Vance. "I know you are his friends…from his past, but you don't know Eliot now…the way we do." She said, indicating herself along with Nate and Sophie. "And because of the way I know him, I've figured out that the person who has Eliot is his brother, Evan."

Matthew Whitmore turned to look at Vance before he returned his attention back to Parker. "Parker? Is that your name?" He asked her.

"Yes."

"Okay, Parker. Why don't you tell us how you know about Eliot's brother, Evan?" He asked as he rested his hands on the table top. To all looking he appeared to be interested in the thief's interaction with the group, when in reality he was actually interested in exactly how this girl knew about Evan. No one, not even Eliot had known what actually went down with the man.

"Eliot told me." She replied simply.

This time it was Vance who leaned forward to rest his hands on the table top and address her. "Eliot told you?"

"Eliot…our Eliot told you about his brother?" Sophie also asked. At Parker's nod of affirmation, she then asked, "When exactly did he tell you this, sweetie?"

"Just now. When I was up on the roof."

Whitmore and Vance both turned to look at Nate for further explanation. "What is she talking about?" Whitmore asked the mastermind. "How could he have told…told her that just now?"

Nate took a moment to put what Parker was saying into perspective. She'd obviously just read Eliot's letter to her on the roof so logically she was saying Eliot had most likely written the clues in said letter. There was something there where he had told her about Evan that gave her this opinion. Then it hit him. He knew what she was saying. "Eliot told you about his worst thing, didn't he Parker?" He asked the young woman gently.

Everyone turned back to focus again on Parker. "Yes he did. And I'm not going to go into all of it, mostly because he asked me not to, but I can tell you that it leads me to believe that it was Evan." She turned to look at Vance and Whitmore. "And you two would know why I believe that, wouldn't you?"

Both men leaned back in their chairs as they regarded this woman; this team. Eliot had been right, Whitmore thought. This team, his team was very smart. Together they were good, really good. He smiled at Vance as he saw the Colonel agreed with his thoughts.

"Eliot picked a good team here." Vance said for the both of them. "You're right Parker, it's probably Evan that has Eliot and it's because Eliot was sent to kill him."

"Kill his brother?" Sophie asked, forgetting for the moment how the thief had known about his brother. "Why in the world would Eliot be sent to kill his brother?"

Vance looked at Bonanno who had been sitting quietly next to Nate not joining the conversation, nor ignoring it. The detective smiled at the Colonel as he knew what the look meant.

"I think this is my exit cue. I'll be in touch Nate." He said getting up and as Nate nodded, understanding what was being said. "I umm, well, you do know if you need anything, just call. I'll put this case aside for a little while, just in case…in case something new arises." He looked directly at Vance. "If you get my drift Colonel."

Michael Vance stood and reached across the table to shake the detective's hand as he replied, "I get you detective. And it was…a pleasure meeting you."

As the two men shook hands, Parker watched Nate as he watched her. Later, she thought to herself. Later she'd tell Nate about the worst thing, but only Nate. And only because he would understand and not condemn Eliot for the choices he'd once had to make.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Somewhere in Eliot's Past_

_Eliot slowly opened his eyes, groaning as he felt the pain behind his eyelids. He had a massive headache, to say the least. And he felt pain all over his body. He'd woken many times in his young life to pain, but for some reason this time he knew it was quite possibly the last time for him._

_His head was hanging down, his hair hanging down hiding his face. He tried to move his right hand to run through his hair to remove it from his eyes, but his hand refused to move. He slowly lifted his head to see his hands handcuffed over him. He tried to focus more on the chain of the cuffs as his vision continued to blur. _

_He was suspended from a chain threaded through the long chain of the handcuffs. He had no shirt and no shoes or socks. He was clad only in his fatigue pants and his toes barely scraped the floor as he gently swayed from the movement of his head. _

_"__Crap," he said to himself. "Way to go Spencer."_

_His memory slowly came back to him as he took in his situation. He had been circling around the perimeter of the abandoned building after he'd left his team in search of the sniper or snipers that had just killed two of his men and were keeping the rest at bay. Well, they weren't all his men. _

_Sgt. Lucas Malone and Pvt. Anthony Nelson had been assigned to escort Eliot's team to the location of a freedom fighter that was actually more than that to the U.S. government. The two men had been shot by snipers and even though Eliot had tried to get Malone to safety, he'd failed to save him and his driver. The two had been shot and killed in front of Eliot and the newest member to his team, Quinn._

_It turned out Quinn and Malone had been the best of friends before the military, and that made it even harder for Eliot to accept the two men's lost lives. He'd tried, he really had, but he couldn't save either man._

_He'd called his team of six men to hold their positions until they could locate the snipers. He knew there had to be at least two because both Malone and Nelson went down at the same time. He'd heard the sound of each shot and knew they were simultaneous shots._

_He knew it would be useless to try and rescue their man before they'd eliminated the threat of the snipers, so he'd left Quinn with the two dead men and headed around the building in search of a way in to see if he could reach a high point to locate them. _

_That was the last thing he remembered until waking up like this. He could only hope that Quinn and the others were still holding their positions and not trying to come after him. Because obviously it had been a trap. This whole mission had been orchestrated to lure Eliot and his team into being picked off one by one._

_He couldn't have anymore men's blood on his hands right now, so he truly hoped they'd either remained holding or had fallen back. He tried to assess his current situation the best he could, but he was having a hard time thinking with the headache and he knew he had a concussion._

_Which was probably the least of his problems. His arms hurt from being suspended, so he knew he hadn't been hanging there for very long. He took in the blood slowly oozing down his arms from the metal cuffs biting into the skin of his wrists. He knew it wouldn't be long before he didn't feel his arms as they grew numb from the position they were forced into._

_He heard the metalic click of a key in a lock and moved his head to the only door in the room. He hadn't noticed the door before and cursed himself for not checking out his surroundings better. He was better trained than that, and could only put the blame on the concussion frazzling his brain cells._

_He watched as two men dressed in camoflage fatiques came into the room. One man carried two large buckets while the other pushed a cart in front of him. Both men were of Muslim descent and Eliot knew they were the enemy. Not because they were Muslim, but because they were dressed in the uniform of a terrorist cell he'd been tracking in this region._

_Every group had their signs of individuality, and these two showed theirs in the markings on their shoulders. They were related to HAMAS – a group around since the late eighties. Eliot knew they were probably a branch of the main group, but just as dangerous._

_The two men for the most part seemed to ignore him as they went about their business. The one with the buckets set them aside and helped the other to set up what appeared to be a tripod and camera. Great, he thought. I'm about to be in the movies._

_The first man, that had been pushing the cart, moved away from the other one setting up the camera and moved his cart closer to Eliot, but not close enough for him to have access to it. Just close enough that he could see the equipment laid out upon it's surface._

_Neither man spoke to him and he was in no mood to engage them in conversation. He knew what was to come and in a way he was grateful. It meant the rest of his team had gotten away and he was alone. If these men knew where his team was, he'd be dead._

_But since he knew what they planned, he knew they didn't have his team or any information on his team. He took comfort in that and hoped his team had headed back to their main camp. He didn't need to worry about them right now. It was best if he only had himself to worry about._

_The second man turned the camera to face Eliot and he saw the little red light flicker on as the man moved to pick up one of the buckets he'd previously set down. He headed over to where Eliot was hanging and spoke in clear unbroken english. Eliot was surprised at the man's perfect speech._

_"__We need to know where your team is, Mr. Spencer." _

_Eliot was also surprised the man knew his name. "I don't know what you're talking about." He growled back at the man._

_The man smiled. It wasn't a reassuring smile to Eliot. "I think you do know what I'm talking about. You see, we knew you were coming. We sent for you. And now you're here. But we need the rest of your team. You and your team have been an especially painful thorn in our side for the last year and it is time to remove that thorn, Mr. Spencer." The man took one step closer and threw the contents of the bucket on Eliot._

_He sputtered, expecting the liquid to burn him, or at the least sting, but he just spit the water out of his mouth as he realized it was just that. Water. Ice cold, but just water. He watched the man set the now empty bucket back down and walk back for the second one._

_As the man returned with the second bucket, Eliot thought okay, this is new. He watched as the man threw the contents of the second bucket of ice water on his torso and felt the cold penetrate his heated skin. _

_As he tried to shake the wet clumpy tendrils of his long hair from his eyes, he saw the first man move closer to his side. Eliot's hair was not military issue, but nothing about him and his team was military issue. They worked for the government but they didn't have to follow their guides. And this was one time Eliot had wished he had cut his hair after he'd been told that he should by Colonel Vance. Vance was the man he got his missions from, but he no longer had to answer to him._

_Eliot and his team were black. They answered to no one and they did what no other team could do. They got the job done when others failed. They were the last line in defense. They weren't called upon to make the military look good in their missions; they were called upon when the military's hands were tied by legal restrictions._

_While the government had to follw guidelines even in remote black operations; Eliot and his team did not. They moved in quietly under darkness and they got the job done. They weren't known, they weren't acknowledged and if they died, no one hung a flag over their casket or gave them a 21 gun salute. They ended up buried where they died, unless another team member could get them out. _

_Delta, Seals, Rangers they were the teams in the news working for Uncle Sam. Eliot's team never got a writeup in the newspaper. They moved in and out before either side knew they'd been there._

_Geting caught meant that Eliot would die. He wouldn't give up his team and they wouldn't come back for him. He was on his own and that was the way it was. He'd known that when he'd taken this team. Vance would not come for him and no one would miss him, so it didn't matter how much torture Eliot took it wasn't going to do these men any good._

_Eliot slowly raised his face to look at both men through the strands of his long wet hair and slowly smiled a smile reserved for only the worst in this business. "Bring on your best. You know as well as I do, I die here and no one will come for me. But they will come for you. Go ahead, do it." He taunted the two men._

_The first man looked nervously at the second man. He stood there with the knife held tightly in his hands, but waited for the second man to tell him what to do. Obviously the second was the leader of the two. _

_"__That's too bad. I had hoped we could end this quickly, but be that as it may I guess you are correct." The second man spoke to Eliot. _

_He nodded at the other man who moved over and with a hesitant step he pulled the knife back and brought it forth in a rush burying it to the hilt in Eliot's side as he tried not to cry out at the sudden intense pain. _

_"__This is just the beginning of the worst I am capable of Mr. Spencer. I so hope you can see that."_

_"__Who are you?" Eliot managed to get out past the pain as he took in the man's face swimming before him._

_"__You can call me… the Doctor."_

_And with those words, the second man pulled the dripping blade from Eliot's flesh and buried it again in his other side with a sickening thud. Eliot tried, but this time the cry of pain was ripped from his throbbing throat and the man pulled the blade out and buried it again for the third time._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 7:30 PM

Katharine sat next to Eliot's bed as she watched the man stir in his unconscious state. He was dreaming or possibly he was remembering something. Something painful by the look on his face. She stood and walked over to the bed and reached down to move a strand of his long hair from across his face.

She didn't know how to alleviate his nightmares. She was torn; she knew she could ease his physical pain with the drugs, but she didn't know how to help with his emotional discomfort. She wanted so badly to touch him, to let him know he was safe, but she didn't really know if he was safe. She didn't know if either of them were safe.

She turned her head to look out the window across the room to see the sun was slowly setting and soon it would be dark outside. It was still too early to give him another dose of medication to help him sleep, but as soon as she could she would. She would sit here all night if she had to, because for some odd reason this man had wrapped her around his finger and he hadn't even tried all that hard to do it.

She wanted to help him, but something told her that everything he had once been was tied to everything he was now and it all involved the pain he'd been through. The pain he kept inside pushed down deep. This man had a lot of emotional baggage even if he didn't realize it, and because of that baggage he was now in this position. Shot and closer to death than she liked.

She surprised herself at feeling the intense hatred for whoever had shot this man and put him in this bed. She reached down and took his left hand in hers and felt him instantly grasp her hand back in his sleep. He seemed to cling to her as if she was his anchor in whatever was happening to him.

She watched the lines of pain slowly fade from his face as he slipped back towards a dreamless sleep, so she continued to hold his hand far longer than was strictly necessary. As she watched his pain ease and his eyes settle down behind his closed lids, she realized just how young he looked in sleep. She was intensely grateful for the fact he seemed to know she wasn't going to hurt him even if she invaded his secrets.

That was when she also realized that she knew the two of them couldn't be here come morning. She had to figure a way to get this man out of this house before morning. She had the strong feeling that something bad was coming and she needed to get him to safety. Wherever that may be.

She jerked in fear as she turned toward the sound of the door to the room opening. Her fear only lessened slightly at the sight of Dr. Richards walking into the room. She didn't fully trust this man and he wasn't supposed to be here right now.

"Dr. what are you doing here?" She asked nervously.

Mark Richards took in the sight of Katharine holding onto Spencer's hand as the man lay sleeping the bed. He slowly moved his eyes from the sight to focus on her eyes. He saw it then. Spencer had gotten to her too. Damn the man always did have a way with women.

He smiled to himself a little. Eliot didn't recognize him when he'd first seen him, but he should have. Of course Mark had had a little plastic surgery done, but he hadn't changed his voice. So he'd been surprised that he hadn't been recognized.

Then again Eliot was in pain, barely thinking about anything from the past. Besides it had been a while since Mark Richards had been known as The Doctor.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

_I Spend My Life And Sell My Soul On The Road_

_And I'm Still In The Dark_

_'__Cause I Can't Seem To Find The Light Alone_

7:00 – 8:00 PM

_Somewhere in Eliot's past_

_Eliot tried the best he could to hide the pain, but the scream was ripped fro__m his aching throat anyway. The knife wounds still oozed blood down his torso and the top of his fatiques were soaked with his blood already. But those wounds were the least of his problems. _

_The man calling himself The Doctor walked over to Eliot and threw another bucket of ice cold water on his already dripping body as the other man, his willing helper, then reached out and placed the end of the cattle prod against one of his bloody wounds. The jolt of electricity running through him was more than enough to ensure his wounds would continue to bleed out as well as render him totally incapable of fighting back. _

_Eliot had been in a lot of nasty situations already in his young life, but this was the first time he felt he would quite probably not make it out alive. He wasn't afraid to die; he'd made his peace with God a long time ago on that front. But what bothered him the most, was the fact he'd never be able to see his sister to explain to her why he'd left home. He'd just up and left her and their father that night in late May and he hadn't been back but once. Once…_

_Just once he'd gone home right after his basic training and it was to find out that the girl he had once loved, Aimee hadn't waited for him. He'd known she shouldn't wait, because he'd just left everyone, but it had still hurt. _

_He'd found out from Emma that Aimee had moved with her family to Kentucky and that she was married now. She'd gone and gotten married when he hadn't returned home to her. He really didn't blame her, but he had kind of hoped she'd still be there. He'd given her a promise ring and told her that no matter what he loved her. And he had, as much as Eliot was capable of. _

_So after that Eliot knew he'd been abandoned by everyone now, his mom and siblings, then his father. Only Emma had looked for him. Waited for him. Searched for him. But she had her own life to live and he'd left her with their dad. And for that he was sorry and he had thought he'd be able to help her out someday even if it was just with money, and he had. He'd send her money whenever he could, but he'd never explained everything about his life, his job. He never told her anything about what he did. What he'd become. _

_Emma never knew about their brothers Evan and Eaton, either. When Eliot had found out, he'd kept his promise to his mother and kept silent. He, to this day hadn't said a word, but he'd hope to be able to share this with Emma someday. And now it looked like that wasn't gonna happen. So just someone else you've let down, Spencer. He thought. Just another let down. More pain you've dispensed._

_As the cattle prod made connection with his body again, he jerked and found himself just wishing for the end already. And just as that welcoming darkness seemed to be coming to claim him, The Doctor reached out and slapped him several times until Eliot was forced to meet the man's eyes. He'd never forget those eyes. Dark brown pools of emptiness, he thought._

_"__Dying's too easy for you, Mr. Spencer. I can't let that happen before I have the answers I need." He reached out and Eliot felt the prick of the needle as it pierced his skin several times near his wounds. _

_Eliot wondered just exactly what the man was doing. Why inject him there if he was gonna just kill him? He felt the numbness creeping through his stomach muscles as they slowly relaxed and he realized the man had just numbed his nerve endings. He'd just given him a local. He watched as the man reached out for something on that damn torture cart and saw him pick up a needle threaded with black suture thread._

_He blinked then he blinked again. Slowly he looked deep into the man's eyes. "What… for?" He croaked out as he watched the man slowly start to stitch his wounds._

_"__I told you, dying's too easy for you. I need you to tell me what I need to know and you can't do that dead. After I have what I want then you're free to meet the God you Americans pray to. But until then, I will enjoy sewing you up over and over again until I have what I want. " He paused in his work to meet Eliot's eyes. "I'm not heartless, but I am determined. And I have all the time in the world Mr. Spencer. All the time in the world."_

_Eliot blinked again as he watched the man make another expert stitch. "I'm…I'm… not gonna tell you anything. I wouldn't… wouldn't… know what to tell you anyway. My team….my team doesn't work that way." He paused as he swallowed trying to regain his steady voice. "They would have fallen back… at my not returning and I don't know where… they are by now."_

_The man smiled as he finished the first stab wound and moved to the second. "Then for your sake, you'd better hope they try and rescue you. Because once my friend here tires, he'll just as soon slit your throat as you arrogant Americans would say."_

_The other man stood with the cattle prod still in his hands just waiting to continue with his work as he smiled at The Doctor's words. Eliot couldn't help cringing slightly as he took in the look. "So I'm… I'm guessing The Doctor is a literal reference. You are actually a… a… real doctor."_

_The man looked up and smiled. "But of course. We aren't all barbarians. My mother was an American woman, I studied at Cornell. My father could afford the very best."_

_This surprised Eliot. "Then you have ties to both…both countries, so why are you on this side?"_

_The man sneered at Eliot as he began work on the third wound. "My mother was an American whore who ran away from my father. She never wanted me. Let's just say, I know all of your ways as well as my own and they have come in quite handy in my missions. But my loyalties lie with my father and his loyalties lie with his country." He cut off the thread from the last stitch. "There Mr. Spencer good as new, now if you do not wish to mess up my handiwork, I'd suggest telling me what I want to know." He stepped back laying the needle on the cart as the other man moved to stand in front of Eliot once again._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 7:30 PM

Dr. Mark Richards stood taking in the way Katharine Wakefield stood next to his patient. The mighty Eliot Spencer. He felt himself cringe inwardly at the disgust he could see in her eyes. She wasn't hiding her dislike of him very well, he thought.

He slowly smiled as he took a couple more steps into the room to stand at the foot of Eliot's bed. He had to give it to this woman, she was a lot stronger than he'd first suspected. She would be tough to get around.

When he'd gotten her to assist with Eliot's care, he hadn't thought she'd be that hard to entice with the money offered them. He knew she could use the money and she really didn't have any family to take up her personal time. But he should have known better. She was the only nurse on the night shift he hadn't gotten into bed yet. He'd thought maybe he could remedy that during their stay here, but as he said, he should have known better.

This woman was never going to see him, the man. She'd been an enigma since starting work at Mass Gen, but he'd put that off to her playing hard to get. Now he realized she was much more than a nurse. She would have to be taken care of if he was to complete his mission. Besides why would he want to attach himself to an American woman like his mother. No, he needed to stick to his mission.

A mission that had started over eight years ago when he'd first faced Eliot Spencer. The mission hadn't been about getting Spencer to talk; no even his compatriots understand this man and his determination. Eliot Spencer had become very well known in the short time he'd been leading his team in missions against Mark's homeland.

No, his mission had not been to kill Eliot Spencer. It had been to save him. It had always been to save him. His mission was to keep the man alive. His country needed Eliot Spencer because he was the best at what he did. His family wanted him so they could have the best on their side. His job had been to convert Spencer's alligence. Make him appear to be a traitor.

His mission didn't include Evan Chapman or his petty little revenge plots either. Mark had not worked all these years to get himself located at the best hospitals around the world as he followed Spencer, to just to lose him to something as petty as a family's revenge.

Eliot Spencer was worth more alive than dead. His father wanted this man alive and come hell or not, Mark Richards did not deny what his father wanted. He was going to save Eliot Spencer from Evan Chapman. And then… well and then he would have the glorious satisfaction of being the one to take Eliot Spencer down. He would smile as he ran the knife across the man's throat for what he'd done to Mark's country as well as his family. The man was still considered a prize and Mark was going to bring the prize to his father's doorstep.

Yes, Eliot was about to be saved, but only until he was safely away from this place. Once Mark had Eliot where he wanted him, he would make sure that the man got exactly what he deserved. Because the man had brought nothing but pain to Mark's life. The man was trouble and everywhere he went he left nothing but pain and blood and chaos in his wake. Soon that would end.

"I'm here to help you Katharine."

Katharine, still holding Eliot's hand, turned a confused look to the doctor. "What do you mean?" She asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"Evan Chapman means to kill Mr. Spencer. And I do not want his death on my conscience. I will not let him die. I am the doctor here and I will keep him alive as long as I can."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_"__Mr. Spencer, you are only prolonging the enevitable. I've already told you that I will not let you die. I will keep you alive for as long as I can. I am The Doctor."_

_Eliot's head was spinning. He was having trouble concentrating on the man's words. What was he saying?_

Eliot jerked at the sound of the voice seeping into his subconscious and his memory. He felt the pull on his hand as he realized something was wrong here. Terribly wrong.

Katharine felt Eliot jerking against the hold she had on his hand. Before she could react, his other hand shot out and gripped her hand holding his. His eyes shot open and he looked up at her confusion present in his stare. Slowly as he focused in on her face he turned away from her to look at the man standing next to her at the foot of his bed.

The man was… Eliot blinked. The man did not look like the one from his memories. From his nightmares, but that voice. The voice was his. He'd missed it earlier, but now he could see it. There were drastic changes to his look, his face. But the eyes were the same. Those dark eyes that held a lifetime of torture in them.

The man was here and he was real. "It's been a long time, Doctor." Eliot rasped out as his throat protested. He swallowed several times as he watched the man. "It's been a very long time."

"Aww, I'm glad to see you finally recognize me, Mr. Spencer." The doctor said as he smiled slowly at Eliot.

Katharine looked between the two men as she realized that Mark had just used Eliot's real name. "What's going on here?" She asked.

Without looking at Katharine, Eliot spoke to her. "This isn't just a doctor, Katharine. He's _The _Doctor. A man well known in my military days. A man that should by all accounts be dead. I did see you're man kill you, you know. Just before I killed him."

Mark Richards, The Doctor, slowly smiled as he took in Eliot's statement. "Yes, Benny. He was a good soldier. Very faithful to my father. But he didn't understand the dynamics of my father's plan. He was just another willing soldier." Mark paused as he thought back to that day in that abandoned building. "Quite the sniper though, wasn't he? Took out two of your men before you even knew what was happening. And he was quite good with torture techniques, too."

Eliot remembered the two men that had been killed. He'd never forget that. He carried that with him everyday. "He wasn't the only sniper there, but yes, he was good. Yet in the end, his… skills were useless."

"Yes they were."

Eliot finally turned to look at Katharine. "You should step out of the room for a minute, Kat. I think the doctor and I have to have a little talk."

Katharine realized that would be the worst thing possible right now. Besides she was angry. "No."

Eliot raised his eyebrows at her answer. "What did you say?"

"I said no. I'm not leaving. There is so much crap going on here, that I want some answers. I need some answers. I'm guessing this is all black op shit and I can understand government secrets, but there is so much going on here, that I'm beginning to need a playcard to know who all the players are. And if they're the good guys…or the bad guys." Katharine pulled her hand from Eliot's grasp and turned to look Mark.

I'm guessing you are an asshole from Eliot's past, a bad guy, and that's fine. I'm sure he kicked your ass once and will again, but right now he's my patient. Not yours. Not anymore. You say you can help us, then help us. But until then I need to know what the hell is going on here. I'll be damned if I'm just gonna step outside." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest and took in both men staring at her.

It was then as she turned to Eliot and looked in his crystal blue eyes, that she realized Eliot had just called her Kat. She'd never told him that. Only Luke and Travis called her that.

"You called me Kat." She looked at the way he was suddenly avoiding her eyes. "Why did you call me that? No one calls me that anymore. Well almost no one." Then it dawned on her. "You know who I am don't you?"

AN: Am I confusing everyone? I know I keep adding in the plot twits, but trust me they will soon start making sense. The chapters will start picking up with filling in the pieces from here on out. I hope everyone enjoys and to all my reviewers, thanks a million. You are all so great! Love each and everyone of you!


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

_Sometimes I Feel Like A Man In The Wilderness_

_I'm A Lonely Soldier Lost At Sea_

_Drifting With The Tide, Never Quite Knowing Why_

_Sometimes It Makes No Sense At All_

Roughly about 6:00 AM Uzbekistan time

Roughly about 8:00 PM Boston time

Quinn sat in the uncomfortable jumpseat of the large cargo plane that had just flown out of the small airfield not far from Samarkand International Airport. It had taken a small ransom to get his contact to fly him out this soon, but he'd be in Boston that much sooner.

His friend had a refurbished Bristol Type 170 Freighter that had probably been built in the ealy 60s, but he'd cut and pasted and tagged and whatever he called it to get the plane he now had. The plane was large enough to carry two or three large vehicles or other large cargo along with at least 10 passengers and they'd only need to refuel once before he got him to just outside of Boston since he was flying out with only Quinn as his cargo.

They'd have to refuel somewhere near Austria and he hoped he wouldn't have any trouble there. If everything went smoothly it would then be a straight shot for the old airfield near Braintree, Mass. From there he'd get a car and be at Ford's place by noon tomorrow their time. Less then six hours his current time, but he'd be backtracking.

He knew once they made it out of Austria he would relax a bit more easily. For now he needed to keep alert for any obstacles along the way. And this also gave him time to work over a plan.

He pulled his cell from his pocket to see if he had service. He punched in Vance's number once again and waited for the man to answer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Vance felt the vibration of his cell in his pocket while he was watching the young hacker they called Hardison working his magic with his program on locating Eliot's earbud.

He pulled it out to see the number from earlier that Quinn had used. He knew the man must be on his way if he was calling. Either that or there was a new snag.

During his conversation with the man earlier, he'd learned that Lucas Malone's sister Katharine was the one with Eliot, but he didn't know where Eliot was at the time. He'd thought it better not to ask in case someone was listening to their conversation.

Hopefully he had gotten some new info from the woman that would help Hardison in his search for the hitter. He stepped back from the group standing around the screens watching the search progress and pressed the button to answer the call.

"Quinn, you got some good news for us?"

Quinn smiled at the thought of how much the Colonel was expecting Quinn to come through with all the details on Spencer. He hated to admit it, but he didn't have anything new to add right now. He knew better than to try to contact Kat so soon after their first contact. He knew Evan Chapman and he knew the man would be monitoring everything and everyone that had any contact with his prize.

"No news, Colonel. Not yet anyway. You know what kind of man Evan is and I wouldn't let Kat tell me anything over the phone. I am in the air though and should be there by noon tomorrow instead of midnight has I first thought. I do know that Kat will be monitoring Eliot closely now and he should be fine through the night. It depends on how much progress Eliot makes during the night healthwise. If he's healing, which we both know Eliot will push his health to the breaking point just enough so he can out of there, and you know as well as I do what that means."

Vance rubbed a hand over his face as he sighed deeply. "Yeah, I know. Evan will put his plan in motion if he thinks Eliot is getting stronger. He'll want Eliot somewhat capable of fighting back, but not strong enough to spoil his fun. He'll want a worthy advesary in his game."

"Yes, and we both know his game." Quinn paused as he got up and moved further into the middle of the plane to avoid the noise of the engines on either side. "Kat has no idea what she's in for with this and she has no idea how involved Eliot was in the death of her brother. If she finds out, I don't know how much help she'll be after that, because we both know Eliot'll take the blame for Luke's death. Even if he wasn't directly responsible, he'll tell her it's his fault and he won't explain. We both know who's really to blame there and who sent us on that mission that took Luke's life, but that won't stop Eliot. He's a die-hard martyr when it comes to the blame game."

"Yeah...look, we've made some progress here." Vance then went on to explain the earbud tramsmission and the location showing the docks down by the city dump. He didn't know how to explain the way Hardison worked, but it wouldn't matter beause Quinn wouldn't understand it either. So he just went with what he did know.

"Well whatever he's found, it can't be where they're holding Eliot, at least not right now. It may be a trap to get you as far away from Eliot as possible, or it could be where Evan plans to take Eliot later. Kat said she was in Evan's home, and there aren't any homes down there on the docks. Not any Evan would choose anyway." He paused as he tried to picture the area from the last time he'd been there during a contact operation several years ago. "I'll call Kat here in a couple more hours when it's closer to midnight your time. Chances are no one will notice if she answers her cell during the night as Eliot should be sleeping then. Hopefully she's not on Evan's radar to the point she needs constant monitoring. I'll try and get whatever I can from her without putting her in jeopardy anymore than she already is."

"Sounds good. Ill pass on anything we learn here when you can call back."

"We'll be refueling in a few hours and any contact after that will be sketchy. At least until we have crossed the ocean. I'm gonna need a military escort if things hit a snag. We're looking at refueling near Austria and I don't exactly have fond memories of the country. Nor do they have any of me." Quinn couldn't help the smirk he felt as he fondly remembered the daliance he'd had with one prominent Austrian military leaders' wife. Maria, he remembered. So worth the problems. At least at the time.

Vance smiled at that memory too. Quinn was too much like Eliot in the female daliance category. "Call me when you are about twenty minutes out, I'll have someone waiting for you. A military contact that will help you get through the country quickly." He looked at Whitmore who had turned to look at him and he nodded his head slightly at him to indicate it was Quinn. "You make it here, I'll give you a pass on your next...foreign excursion." He smiled as he said the words to the man who was almost as good a specialist as Spencer had been.

Quinn smiled himself at the Colonel's words. He knew a gift when he heard it. "I'll just have to take you up on that offer Colonel."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 8:30 PM

Katharine still stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes boring holes into Eliot as she waited for him to explain himself. "I repeat, how do you know who am and what the hell is going on here?"

Damn it, Eliot thought to himself. He'd made a mistake in using the nickname he'd remembered Luke Malone using when he had shown Quinn and him the picture of his sister. Eliot remembered that night just before he'd been taken and tortured by the doctor as the men had traveled to their destination.

_"Hey Travis, you gotta see the picture Kat just sent me a couple weeks ago." The young Sgt. spoke to his childhood friend. "She's just beginning to show." The man pulled the worn photo from a hidden pocket of his fatigues._

_Eliot thought it was nice to see the picture was well worn for the man having gotten it recently. It meant the picture was important to him. It meant he'd looked at it often. "That your girl?" He asked as he looked over Quinn's shoulder to see a beautiful blonde woman who was showing off the rounded curve of her pregnant stomach. "She's pretty."_

_Quinn looked back at Eliot. "It's Kat, his older sister. She's expecting. She's had a tough time conceiving and she's excited about this baby." Quinn held the photo for Eliot to get a better look._

_She was more than just pretty. The woman glowed and even through the photograph he could feel the essence of her coming through. "Guess she didn't want to wait around for you, buddy." Eliot spoke to Quinn as he handed the picture back to Sgt. Malone. "She must have great taste in men then." He chuckled at the look on Quinn's face._

_"Yeah, right. Kat is so way out of Trav's league." Lucas Malone said taking the picture and pocketing it once again. _

_Eliot felt the change in the man's demeanor though at his reply to Quinn. He didn't understand it, but didn't dwell on it. It was a family thing, he thought._

_"Yeah right. Way outta my league. You laugh it up guys, but she so wanted me once upon a time." Quinn replied with a grin as he remembered the crush he'd had and probably always would have for his best friend's sister._

_"Right. She so wanted you until she realized you weren't gonna be around anymore than I was." Luke said as a wave of meloncholy stole across his features. "She's found someone who makes her happy now, so she says. She doesn't have to wait around for your sorry butt to come back and sweep her off her feet." He added to Quinn with a gentle smirk._

_Eliot watched the two men carry on their conversation. It was obvious that this sister, Kat was important to them both and he got a sense that Quinn had cared a lot more than he was letting on. Too bad that their lives would never include that kind of a life. They were destined to end up alone. Both he and Quinn knew what they'd signed up for, but Eliot could understand the look on Quinn's face when he'd looked at the smiling woman in the photo. He could feel something from her picture, she was more than just beautiful._

_Yeah, it was too bad that they'd never get that kind of apple pie life. The love of a good woman and a child to carry on when they were gone. He turned to look out the hummer's window at the endless desert sand that spoke volumes of what really lay in their future; his future._

"Eliot?" Kat quietly asked as she took in the far away look in Eliot's eyes. Was he in more pain or was he just thinking... remembering a bad memory maybe. The way he turned from her at her question of what was going on here bothered her very deeply for some reason.

Damn it, she thought to herself. She was becoming way to attached to this man and that couldn't be good in the end. This kind of thing never ended good. She'd lost two brothers to war and she'd lost Quinn to the same dark stuff this man was involved in.

Eliot turned back to look up at her as he tried to think of an explanation for calling her by her nickname. "I didn't know who you were at first. Not until... not until the dreams started, just now. I...I knew your brother, Luke." Eliot turned to look at the Doctor before Katharine could comment. "I don't know what your game here is doctor, but right now you are the least of my worries. Whatever you're doing here now with Evan, you'd better realize you, even with all your... knowledge cannot outsmart him. He will take you down and he won't hesitate to use your knowledge against you."

Dr. Richards smirked at the man lying in the hospital bed. "He is a formidable advesary, but he doesn't really worry me." The doctor stepped closer to the bed. "The last time we met, I let you live. I saved your life then and I saved your life now. It's true I have my own agenda, but for now the most important thing is to find a way to get you out of here and away from Evan. He has plans for you that I just cannot allow to come to fruition." He smiled as he thought of those plans. "I didn't lie to you then and I won't lie to you now. I respect you as a more worthy opponent in comparison to your brother so you know that once we get out of here, I will put my plan into action."

"Wait a second here. I don't know what's going on, but I'm not going anywhere until someone tells me. And trust me gentlemen, right now I am the one with a plan."

Eliot turned his head quickly at that. "What do you mean?"

Katharine hesitated as she turned to look at the Doctor. She didn't want to speak in front of the man. She'd known the man wasn't all he claimed to be, but now she was just confused on what he was doing here and who he really was. She turned back to look at Eliot. "If you really knew Luke, then you should be able to guess."

Eliot narrowed his eyes at her as he started to feel the pain in his chest returning. He cursed the pain because he didn't have time to be laying here. "What did you do, Katharine?"

She turned to reach for another injection she had laid out on the dresser near the bed. "I did the right thing." She said and before Eliot could say or do anything, she injected the needle in his IV port and emptied the syringe. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you on my watch cause damn it to hell you have gotten under my skin Eliot Spencer and no one has done that in a very long time."

As Eliot realized she'd just drugged him again, he tried to move his hand to grab onto her, but she was too quick. She dropped the used syringe in the bucket for it's disposal and all he could do was watch his hand fall limply back to his chest. "Kat, you shouldn't... have done... have done that." He paused to lick his dry lips as he watched the woman split in to. "I'm getting... getting... really pissed..." That was the last thing he could get out before the deep blackness took him under .

Katharine Wakefield turned to face the doctor once again. "I don't know who you are and right now I don't care, but know this Mark, if you lay one finger on this man, I will kill you. I have nothing to lose so one finger and it will be the last thing you do." She reached into her pocket and her fingers closed around the scapel she had tucked there when Eliot had told her earlier that she needed to be careful. "If you really care about helping me get him out of here, then why don't you find a way to get a portable pleurovac and a getaway vehicle big enough to roll him out of here. After that, I'll let you explain yourself, but until then remember I have already made contact with someone outside who knows where I am and what's more knows what's going on here and if anything happens to me or him, that contact will hunt you down. And know this too, that contact was trained by this man." She added pointing back at Eliot.

Dr. Mark Richards took in the woman standing there. She was going to be a much bigger problem than he'd first thought. But he couldn't help the smile that crept over his face as he realized, American or not, she most definitely had gained his respect.

"Okay, Katharine. I'll figure something out. But you should also remember that because you do not know what's going on here, you are in way over your head. I would really hate to see something bad happen to you. Truly I would." He didn't know who she could have called, but if she spoke the truth then whomever she'd contacted earlier when he'd been watching her, well they probably would be quite capable of hunting him down and he didn't need that. Not right now anyway.

AN: Thank you to all the great reviews and comments.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

_(I'm Alive...)_

_Looking For Love, I'm A Man With Emotions_

_(And My Heart's On Fire)_

_I'm Dying Of Thirst In The Middle Of The Ocean_

_(But...I'm Alive...)_

Roughly between 8:30 and 9:00 PM

This whole thing was unreal. It really was. It was all so utterly ridiculously and totally unreal. And that alone is what made it impossible to ignore. Katharine Malone Wakefield could not actually believe she was in this situation. This was never what her life had been about growing up. Her life then had always been structured, organized and predictable.

But now she was knee deep in a situation that was in no way structured let alone organized or predictable. In fact the only thing predictable about all of this was the fact that she knew without a doubt that getting away from Evan Chapman and out of this house with Eliot still alive and then getting away from Mark Richards when the time was right was not going to be easy. And that truly was an understatement.

Dr. Richards had walked out of the room after telling her he'd be back in an hour. Whe she had asked what he was going to do, he'd simply smiled and replied he as going to secure the necessary equipment and transportation she'd asked for that would help them keep their patient alive during their escape. She just needed to do what he'd already told her and he'd also implied he had a plan.

Now all Kat needed was to come up with a plan of her own; because she wasn't going to let Eliot go without a fight. She had surprised herself already at the intense feelings she had for this man. She reached out and touched his face gently as he slept. She made notes in his chart and she moved about the room as any nurse would have while she was also occupied with her thoughts.

She'd noticed the camera lens earlier as she sat watching over Eliot waiting for him to wake up before the doctor had come in. She'd recognized it immediately for what it was. She knew she was being watched, that Eliot was being watched. But after talking with Eliot and the doctor, she had come to the conclusion that they weren't being heard. If they were, she would have expected to see Evan Chapman coming to stop them.

The one thing no one knew about Katharine Malone Wakefield though was enough to fill a book and Evan Chapman and Mark Richards hadn't read that book. They didn't really know who she was or what she was capable of.

She'd been an Army brat raised by a ramrod stiff father who had treated her the same as he'd treated his sons. They had been raised as soldiers and while her brothers had joined the military, Kat had married a soldier. She knew about the darker side of the military from Lucas and then Quinn. She'd known from her husband too.

No one knew the truth of how her husband and daughter had died and that's the way it would stay, at least for now. Not even Luke or Quinn had known about her husband's true military career at the time. She'd barely known any of the details herself, but she'd known enough. She'd known enough to know that when her husband and daughter had died in the car crash that he was deep in their nation's security. He wasn't black ops; no he was deeper, darker. He wasn't one of the soldiers that was sent in dark; her husband, Adam had been the man who sent the soldiers in dark. He was the one who sent Luke, Quinn and even Eliot probably back in their day. Adam had been the shot-caller, the man who decided what mission happened and what team completed the mission.

Her husband had been killed by an American enemy and they had also taken the life of her daughter. Kat herself had been reported dead at the time and no one had really thought twice when she'd up and moved away when it was finally reported that she'd survived the crash. Quinn was the only one who knew why she kept moving around. Why she could never settle in one place for too long. Quinn was the only person who knew everything about her.

Kat casually walked around the room checking the medical supplies while surrupticiously moving items closer together for quick access if needed. She wasn't going to be caught unarmed or ill prepared. Her father, brothers and husband had always taught her how to 'bug out' quickly.

So when she'd had everything just where she wanted it, she returned to sit by Eliot's bedside to wait again for him to wake. She'd given him a very small dose this time, because she knew she'd need his help in getting them all out of there alive. She could be his arms and legs as best she could, but she needed his brain. He was the only one who could tell her how to handle Evan and the doctor and that was vital to their eventual total escape.

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contacts she had. She typed in a quick and simple text tht would seem inocuous to anyone who may read it in case her phone was somehow being monitored too, but would tell the recipient everything she needed them to know. And she needed them to know she was coming and to be ready with supplies.

Yes, she was making a plan, it might not be much, but it was all she had right now. She also texted another message to Quinn to let him know she was fine and wouldn't seem out of the ordinary to outsiders. Quinn would read between the lines just as her first contact would. He'd know where she was going if he thought about it. And hopefully he'd meet her there and then he could get Eliot safe until they could figure out what to do about Evan and Mark.

She smiled as she pocketed her cell once again and then she picked up the word search puzzle on the night table and sat back to wait.

It was now a waiting game.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Quinn's time about 7:00 AM

Boston time about 9:00 PM

Quinn felt the vibration of his phone against his leg as he quickly reached into his pocket to retrieve it. He looked at the screen to see he had a text from Kat.

_All's well here tonight-Im A-okay- thinking about vacay after this job-maybe skiing wanna join me honey?_

He smiled to himself as he read her message. The woman was too damn smart for his own good. He knew she was telling him she was going to make her move tonight and they were okay for now. And she was taking Eliot with her to one of two places. He thought about it. He had a 50-50 shot on calling it, cause right now neither place had snow, but that wouldn't matter.

He knew she was going to one of two places and he had less than nine hours to figure out which one. He took a leap of faith and picked one.

He dialed Vance's number and when the Colonel picked up, he said, "Kat's getting Eliot out sometime tonight. They're okay and she's taking him skiing."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 9:00 PM

Evan Chapman stood in his office watching the monitor as he watched the nurse, Katharine moving around the room. He didn't have sound right now as his equipment was a bit lacking; all he had was video. He hoped to rectify that by morning when the electronics expert he'd hired showed up. The man had been delayed on hooking up the equipment at the warehouse.

As Evan watched her he noticed that she didn't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary for a nurse. She checked Eliot's vitals, made notes in his chart, checked all the machines he was hooked up to and laid out fresh medical supplies he guessed for changing his bandages and giving him pain injections through the night.

What he couldn't see was who and what she was texting when she'd pulled out her phone. She would smile as she sent her messages and then she pocketed her cell and went back to doing her puzzle or whatever the hell it was.

The only interesting thing to happen that evening was when the doctor had gone into the room. Evan noticed how Eliot reacted to the doctor, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. Then when he saw the nurse give Eliot the injection that sent him back to dreamland, he noticed that she made a comment to the doctor who then replied something back to her before leaving the room. To most eyes it would seem quite innocent enough, a brief conversation between a doctor and his nurse, but to Evan he could see there was something not right.

During the entire time the doctor had been in the room, he never once went over to Eliot to examine him as a doctor normally would have done. That stood out in Evan's mind and he knew he'd have to have a visit with Dr. Richards to ask him about it.

He continued to watch for the next twenty minutes, but the nurse did nothing more than sit there writing in her book. It seemed that she was settling in for the night so he reached out and turned the monitor off. He got up and sighed as he picked up his cell from his desk top and dialed a number.

"Liam, it seems I might have a slight problem here. Not sure if it's a problem or not, but I won't be moving Eliot tomorrow to the warehouse. We' planned on the next day anyway. I'll call you if I need additional help, but I think it's just time to tie up some loose ends here. I think tomorrow is the last day Eliot will be needing his nurse and doctor."

He listened for a few seconds, then hung up and placed the cell in his pocket as he reached into his desk drawer and removed the nine mil handgun he kept there. He picked up his suit coat that had been hanging on the back of his chair and turned off the desk lamp. He placed the gun in his waistband at his back and slipped his jacket on over it.

He smiled to himself as he headed out of the room. It would be nice to stop off in the kitchen for a late dinner then he'd have a nice talk with Dr. Richards before visiting Eliot and his attractive nurse for the evening. He had a plan he thought as he smiled. Yes, a nice little plan and tomorrow would be the end of all the ties to this house. This time tomorrow night he'd have Eliot exactly where he wanted and he could complete the second half of his plan. His plan to get even with all the people who'd left him for dead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 9:00 PM

Bella Thompson reached fo her cell phone as she heard it buzz next to her on the end table. Her husband Sam picked up the TV remote and muted the screen as she was reaching for the cell. There was only one person Bella assigned that ringtone to.

As she read the message she looked up at Sam. "It's from Kat." She read the text message too him, "_Hey needing a girl's night out-care to join me? Get ready, I'm coming in after this job and Im bringing a friend. You'll luv her. hugs..."_

Sam got up and looked over his shoulder. "Well, looks like Kat is gonna need the cabin ready. I knew teaching you two how to communicate would be handy one day." He smiled down at his wife. "Let's go." He pulled his wife to her feet. "No telling when she'll get there so let's move it. I'll load up stuff from the garage, you get whatever from here in the house and we'll head out."

"Okay. She's gonna need lots of medical supplies. Care...bringing friend... better stock up on lots of that stuff too."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 9:30 PM

Liam Chapman stood next to the now silent phone on the desk in the warehouse. He'd made sure the warehouse was stocked and ready for Eliot Spencer's arrival and now he'd just learned it was delayed by a day.

He fought the urge to pick up the phone and throw it across the room. He wanted to hold onto his anger for as long as possible. He wanted to unleash all of his anger on this Eliot Spencer man.

He once was a perfectly normal pub owner back in Ireland. But that was before he'd gotten word of his brother Sean's death; at the hands of Eliot Spencer. He'd received the call from someone in Damien Moreau's inner circle the day after it had all went down.

He'd never really been all that close to his brother Sean, but he was still family and murder of family required the proper response, which was retribution. The Chapmans were well known in the small town of Devon near Kinsale, County Cork. So his family expected him to leave them in care of his pub and to go the states to bring their son home.

He'd done that and now he was about to do even more. He was working with Evan Chapman to get the payback his family deserved. Evan Chapman was no relation to his family. Liam learned the man had been friends with Sean and he'd taken the name of Chapman when he'd gone into hiding from Spencer and the American military.

Liam had no hatred for the American military and he had no like for it either. It didn't matter to him, his country, his homeland was ruled by another government and he'd learned a long time ago to leave that to other members of his family to fight against. He himself prefered his small town life and didn't want to rock any boats.

But after finding out how his brother Sean had been shot down in cold blood by Spencer from Evan, he knew his family expected him to fulfill his duites to them. So here he was waiting for Eliot Spencer so he could help Evan Chapman kill the man for his crimes against them.

After the man was gone, all Liam wanted to do was head back to his non-existent life and fade into obscurity once again. He hated being away from his life there and that helped fuel his anger and he could focus it all on Spencer.

He could wait one more day and then after that he would never have to see these Americans ever again. He could go back to his family a hero for taking care of his family and that would be the end of it all.

Yes, the end of it all, if he didn't end up killing Evan Spencer Chapman too. The man was too far out there and was probably a little daft as well. Liam had no love lost for that man, but he had even less for Eliot Spencer. The really hard part of all of this for him to take in was the fact he really had no love lost for his brother Sean either.


	19. Chapter 19

AN: Thank you all for your reviews and sorry this is late. I was ready two days ago, but then Fanfiction site went down for a while. Now it's back and I'm posting. Also I'm sorry for all the typing errors I see when I go back to view my posted chapters. I try to proofread, but have to resort to auto-check and spelling due to time. Thankfully you are understanding the story.

Okay, things will start to pick up more from here on out as we prepare for their escape! Enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen

_Sometimes I Feel Like A Man In The Wilderness_

_I'm A Lonely Soldier Off To War_

_Sent Away To Die, Never Quite Knowing Why_

_Sometimes It Makes No Sense..._

_No Sense At All..._

Roughly about 9:30 PM

"What do you mean skiing, Quinn?" Vance barked into his cell. What in the world was the guy saying? They didn't have time for jokes here, not with Eliot's life on the line.

Quinn smiled to himself as he listened to Vance's shocked and surprised response. "Just what I said." He paused as he felt the plane hit a pocket of turbulence. They were still a couple hours from Austria, but they were flying low to avoid radar and that meant it might take a little longer to get there. "All I've got is a cryptic text form her. I read it as she's got a plan and the help to enforce it. She's getting Spencer out sometime tonight and she's taking him someplace safe. I'll know more after that. She'll text me when she's wherever she's going and I'll pass that on to you, but I won't know for sure when that will be. Just be ready. It's all going to happen within the next three hours probably. I'm guessing it's about 9 at night there so I figure by midnight she will either have him safe or..." He let the rest go for a moment as he took in the fear of Kat putting herself in danger for Spencer. Kat was always causing that fear in him. "You know as well as I do Colonel that Kat isn't innocent. She's military born and bred. She knows what to do and she will get it done."

"Yeah I know." Vance paused as he watched the others in the room watching him. "I know she knows how to handle herself." He smiled as he remembered how the woman had reacted to him when he'd had to tell her about her brother's death. The woman was 8 months pregnant at the time and she'd hit him...hard. And not with a wimpy slap to the face. No not this woman. She was a southpaw and she had wound her arm back behind her and brought her fist out of nowhere to punch him right in the nose. She'd broken his nose. The damn woman had broke his friggin' nose. Yes, Colonel Michael Vance knew exactly what this woman was all about. "I also know who her husband had been so that makes me worry just a bit about her actual motives here. You're sure she doesn't know who Eliot is?"

Quinn sighed at that. He had never told Katharine what his life had become nor had Luke, but the woman was smart. She knew. She knew that they both handled missions others could not. She knew more about the darker side of military operations than any civilian should ever know, but one thing was certain. She did not know who Eliot Spencer was or had been. Not many did. Eliot had been one of the military's best kept secrets and only a handful of men knew who Eliot had been back then or what he was capable of. Quinn hadn't known himself until he'd been assigned to Eliot's team the day he'd lost his best friend, Luke. The problem here was that no one knew exactly who Kat was either.

She didn't know that Eliot had been there when her brother had died. She didn't know any of that, but she ws smart and if Eliot said something or gave a hint of anything, Quinn knew she'd pick up on it. Right now the odds were in Eliot's favor, but if he said or did anything to give away how he was involved in Luke's death, well, Quinn just hoped Eliot would be able to fight back because Kat would be a very formidable opponent.

"No, she doesn't know. Trust me if she did, she'd tell me. She might still help him, she is a nurse and caring for the sick and injured is what she does, but that would only last until he didn't need her for that anymore. After that, I have no idea what she may do. We both know Eliot didn't kill her brother, he didn't pull the trigger, but Luke was there because of Eliot. And because of her husband." He paused to rub a hand over his face as he realized just how tired he suddenly was. "She may not see it the same way we do since she really had no love for her husband either."

Vance thought about that. "All right," he said. "We'll be waiting for your next call. Hardison is still working on running his magical programs and things," he smiled at the man in question as Hardison smiled at his name. "But if we get something I can't guarantee we'll be able to continue waiting. If we need to move, we will."

"Fair enough. Just let me know. I don't want to text her back unless it's an emergency, but if I need to, I will. Just bear in mind what you're dealing with here Colonel. Kat broke your nose while she was pregnant and off balance. She's not pregnant anymore and she's very balanced."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 10:00 PM

Bella looked at her husband as they got into their SUV after stocking Kat's cabin with all the necessary supplies they thought she may need. Bella typed in the text to her as she settled into the passenger seat.

_Can't wait. Looking forward to girl's night. Luv company can't wait to meet her. Sam in Lowell right now waiting on job so home alone. Text/call when you can and I'm ready to have fun!_

Sam watched his wife type the message and nodded at her wording. "Good. She knows the cabin's ready and she has transportation waiting in Lowell." He buckled his seatbelt as he started the car's engine. "Maybe you two can get a real girl's night out soon. Lord knows that woman needs some fun in her life and to stop doing so many of these rescue missions she's been on lately no matter how important. She needs more help."

Bella smiled. "Yeah, but she helps so many women. Her life was hard enough, she hates seeing other women go through the same thing." She paused as she thought about her dear friend. "She helped me and if she hadn't, I never would have found you." She reached over to gently kiss her husband on the cheek. "Besides telling Kat to stop bringing strays home is like telling you to stop worrying. It ain't gonna happen."

Sam chuckled at that. "That's a fact." He paused as he put the SUV in reverse to back away from the cabin. "I wonder though about this one. Usually she has the wife and her children with her, rarely does she just have a woman alone that needs help."

"Well, I didn't have any children, just an abusive husband." Bella replied as she thought back to those days long buried now. She refused to remember the man in question because he didn't deserve a second of her time even in thought. "Some women don't always need to get away with children in tow." She turned to watch her man as he shifted into drive and began the journey back to their own home.

"True." He said as he reached out for her hand. "But that's not now. Now you have two great kids; _we_ have two great kids and they will be coming home in two weeks for vacation. I know they love their school and I love Kat for getting them into such a great private school, but sometimes I miss them so much."

"Well, don't worry. After this year they'll be teenagers and you know how teenage girls are. They'll need their daddy for his credit cards." Bella laughed at the thought of her twin girls. They were her most treasured gifts next to Sam, and she wouldn't have them or him if it weren't for Kat's help.

She'd found out her secret when they both worked as nurses back in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And if Kat hadn't given her hope, Bella knew she'd be dead by now. Either by her then husband's hand or her own.

She squinted over at her husband in the darkened interior of the car and squeezed his hand. She loved this man and her girls and she knew she'd do anything for them. And she'd do anything for Kat, because the woman had saved her. The woman had been and always would be her savior.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 10:00 PM

Eliot slowly realized that he was becoming more aware of the world around him. He didn't open his eyes, but he listened. He hadn't changed his breathing and he was keeping his pain in check right now.

He didn't want Kat to know he was awake again. The damn woman would probably jab another dose of morphine in him just for the fun of it and he really needed to be awake right now. He really needed to get his thoughts in order and get his pain leveled out so he could be prepared for things to come.

He was getting really pissed at the woman for keeping him knocked out; but he was getting really pissed at himself for not being able to see her doing it. She was good, too good for her own good. Or his. He planned on having a major talk with her about that damn morphine crap.

He took in the sounds of the heart monitor beeping with every beat of his heart. The mask over his face gave him blessed oxygen, but it made it hard to exhale. He knew he was in pain, but it was currently manageable. He just needed to see if he could somehow move without enduring too much pain, cause he couldn't be laying here just waiting for Evan to do what he had planned.

The man had an elaborate plan laid out for Eliot, and now Eliot had to worry what Evan would do to Kat. He also needed to worry about this Dr. Richards. He now knew who he was too, and how closely he too was related to Kat's brother's death. The woman had no idea that the two men responsible for her brother's death were here in front of her.

He was really pissed to find out that The Doctor had found him. He'd always known though, in the back of his mind, that he couldn't hide from every enemy he'd ever made. It was always a possibility that one day someone would find him. He was just sorry Kat had to be involved in all of this.

He'd been so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't heard the woman move. At least that's what he told himself, because there was no way she could be as silent as... well as an assassin would be. She had moved to stand over him and he felt her hand on his forehead as if she were testing his temperature. Then he was totally taken by surprise when he felt her breath against his ear on his left.

He couldn't stop the slight jerk he gave at the action, and he cursed himself silently as he felt her soft chuckle against his skin from her exhale. He kind of liked the feeling, though. It was nice...

"I know you're awake Eliot. And I know you're mad at me." She breathed quietly. "Don't open you're eyes, we're being watched. Just keep pretending to sleep. I have a plan and I know it will be hard for you, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that, Eliot? Trust me?" She paused as she ran her fingers through his hair then moved to his left wrist as if she were taking his pulse. "If you trust me, give me a sign."

Eliot took in the woman's words and without knowing why or what he was getting himself into, he moved his wrist very subtly beneath her fingers as she held it. He knew he shouldn't trust anyone, but he trusted her. He knew he should be more vigilant, but he also knew he couldn't do this alone. He needed help and he knew deep down that even if this woman hated him, she still would help him live. He knew that the instant he'd looked deep into her mossy green eyes.

"Good." Her voice was back at his ear. "Just relax, and I promise when you next wake up, we will be safe."

Eliot almost opened his eyes to her at that because the last thing he wanted was to be unconscious again, but the stab of the needle directly into his arm sidetracked him a little. Suddenly he felt his chest tightening up and just as he realized what she'd done, he knew the woman was not everything he'd thought she was.

He flung his eyes open then and as he watched her, he missed her slip the syringe she'd just used in her pocket instead of the disposal for needles. He felt his chest getting heavy and he felt panic coming on as he struggled to breath. He met her eyes then as she reached out to remove the mask from his face.

Just before his heart stopped beating he felt his entire body spasm in reaction to the drug she'd just pushed into his abused body. He looked at her then and he knew. This woman had gotten past all his boundaries, she'd run over him like a steamroller and he'd trusted her from the get go. Now as he watched the slow smile come over her face, he knew someone had finally gotten Eliot Spencer.

With his last breath he said, "Damnit...Kat..." Then everything went black.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 10:15 PM

Evan was just finishing his late night dinner in the kitchen when he heard the alarm go off. It was a special alarm he'd had installed in all the rooms the doctor and/or his nurse might use if they were away from their patient. It was an alarm to let them know their patient was in danger. It was their code blue alarm.

Something was wrong with Eliot. Evan quickly jumped up from his seat at the kitchen table and headed for the back stairs off the kitchen to hurry up to the second floor of his home. Once he hit the landing he ran into Dr. Richards coming out of his room hastily pulling on his lab coat over his casual shirt and jeans.

"What the hell is going on, doctor?" Evan yelled at the man as they both headed for Eliot's room.

The man looked at him like he was nuts. "I would guess something's gone wrong with my patient." He said as they both rushed into the room.

Evan came to an abrupt stop as he took in the nurse standing over his brother giving him CPR as the monitors were all going crazy around him. What the hell was happening here? He couldn't let Eliot die, not now. Not when he was so close to getting his revenge.

"Doctor! He's crashing!" Kat's voice broke through Evan's thoughts as he watched the two medical personnel working on Eliot.

He took in the doctor as he quickly rushed over to pull the crash cart set to one side of Eliot's monitors on the right side over to his bed. He pulled it close then motioned for Kat to step back as he took over CPR for her.

"Get the defib charged and ready!" He said as he began pumping on Eliot's chest. "What the hell happened here?" He asked. "It's only been a couple hours since my last check up and he was fine then. He was awake and talking."

Kat stepped back from the bed to run around to the doctor's side and hit the button to charge the defibrillator. She reached for some pre-packaged injections of epinephrine and atropine. "I know. He was still sleeping from the injection of morphine I gave him while you were here. He just started having problems breathing and when I got up to check, he stopped breathing and I couldn't find a pulse. I started CPR right away before the monitors even started beeping."

"Give him one milligram epinephrine." The doctor said as he continued with the CPR compressions.

Kat opened one of the injection packets she'd picked out and moved back to insert the needle into the IV port in Eliot's left arm. She disposed of the needle and returned to the crash cart to prepare the defibrillator paddles for use. She laid the paddles out on the cart and applied the lubricant jelly to each surface, then she picked up two more packaged injections as she returned to the left side of Eliot's bed to await further instructions.

"Check for a pulse." Doctor Richards instructed as he halted CPR to allow her to check.

Kat felt Eliot's left wrist then moved to his carotid artery in his neck. "No pulse doctor." She quickly took up CPR again as Mark motioned for her to and she watched as he reached for the paddles she'd prepped.

Suddenly the heart monitor over Mark's left shoulder began showing a scattered line as Eliot's heart responded to the meds and the CPR. The sound was different than the straight line had been previously. "He's in V-fib, doctor!" Kat yelled as she took in the monitor. "He needs a hospital!"

Evan took in the words Kat said and he yelled back, "No hospital! I won't allow it!"

Dr. Richards turned to the man. "You don't have a choice! I'm not letting this man die because you won't allow a hospital!" He picked up both paddles and rubbed them together to distribute the lubricant over both to avoid any irritation to Eliot's skin.

He hit the charge button on the machine. "Clear!" He yelled and Kat quickly stopped CPR and held her hands up and away from Eliot's body.

Mark placed the paddles on Eliot's chest and hit the button. Eliot's body jerked upwards. The heart monitor continued it's erratic beeping and scattered line. Kat returned to giving CPR as soon as Eliot's body fell back onto the bed.

"I'm going to hit him again." Mark reached over and reset the defibrillator's charge and when it beeped, he yelled for Kat to clear again.

With the second hit the heart monitor suddenly silenced the erratic beeping and the sound and view went back to a normal sinus rhythm.

"Sinus rhythm doctor." Kat responded clearly relieved. She reached for Eliot's hand to check his pulse while the doctor used the penlight in his pocket to check his pupil response.

"Call for an ambulance now, Katharine. I'm taking him to Mass Gen." He said to her as he moved back from the bed to turn to look at Evan. "I don't care what you want or what you think is best, this man needs a hospital. If you're worried about his safety you can put guards on him, but I'm taking him to the hospital. If this man's heart stops again, I probably won't be able to save him. He needs better equipment and a full nursing staff. He's in critical condition. He almost died!"

Evan looked at the two of them and realized he had no choice if he didn't want to give his plan away. "Fine." He replied. "But I'm coming with you and he's to be under my guard. My protection. Understand?"

Dr. Richards looked at Kat who was on the landline calling 911 requesting the ambulance as instructed. The two shared something in that look, but Evan missed it as he kept his eyes on Eliot alone. The nurse had replaced his oxygen mask after checking his pulse and Evan could see his breath fogging the mask. He was still alive he thought was relief.

"I've worked too hard to lose him now." He whispered more to himself than to the others in the room. "I need him alive."

Kat hung up the phone after giving the necessary instructions to the operator. "You need him alive? What does that mean?" She asked innocently.

Evan realized he wasn't acting appropriately as a worried brother, so he amended his statement. "I mean, I haven't seen my brother in years and I've worked too hard to protect him from his enemies and I want him back in my life. I need him to live you know, cause he's family."

Kat looked closely at the man as he spoke. The man is crazy, she thought. He's not right. She looked down at Eliot and put her arm on his chest to feel his breathing. She'd done a hard thing here, but she had her reasons. "I'll get him ready for the ambulance doctor."

Dr. Mark Richards looked from Evan Chapman to Kat. He seemed to be thinking the same as her. Evan Chapman definitely was not playing with all the cards on the table. "Mr. Chapman, could you instruct your security that an ambulance is coming and to let them in?"

Evan nodded slowly as he turned to head out of the room pulling his cell from his pocket to contact his head of security on duty at the main gates. He gave Dr. Richards a long look before he walked out of the room.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

_When The Days Are Cold_

_And The Cards All Fold_

_And The Saints We See_

_Are All Made Of Gold_

_-Imagine Dragons-_

Roughly about 10:30 PM

Patrick Bonanno had just crawled into bed to snuggle up close to his wife who was softly snoring as he gathered her close to his weary body. He'd put in close to 18 hours that day all of it spent trying to solve the mystery of the bodily remains found at Eliot's crime scene. He'd spent most of that time going over every detail in the CSI reports and the witness statements from Eliot's elderly neighbors as well as the statement he'd taken from Eliot's sister. Her's had been the hardest to get as he'd tried hard to mke sure she didn't know what exactly had gone on at Eliot's.

And despite all of the information he'd gathered, he was still no closer to identifying the remains or in finding Eliot. He'd more or less put Eliot's recovery on the back burner, trusting Nate Ford, his team and Eliot's friends in the military to pursue that. Nate knew he had his help if he needed it in finding Eliot, but he was sure this Colonel Vance and Major Whitmore were more than capable of doing what would undoubtedly need to be done to bring Eliot back safely.

He knew he shouldn't let the crime go though, but he knew it was useless to spend his time pursuing that when he'd only hear things he really didn't want to hear. If there was one thing he knew without a doubt about Ford and his team it was the fact they'd find answers a lot quicker than he could.

So he'd concentrated on the remains. His CSI guy, Hoskins didn't have anything more to tell him when he'd left the precinct an hour ago, so he didn't hold out much hope. He would just have to concentrate on some of his other cases until something new came up.

He'd just been about to nod off when his cell rang on the nightstand behind his head. He yawned and stretched to reach for it without disturbing his wife.

"Bonanno." He stated sleepily into the phone.

"Pat? It's David...Hoskins."

The detective immediately became alert as he slowly extricated his other arm from around his wife and moved to get up out of the bed. "What is it, David?" He asked as he quietly moved into the master bathroom so as not to disturb his wife with his conversation.

"I just got some more reports back on the John Doe remains from the Spencer crime scene."

"Are you still at work?"

The scientist sighed as he felt the fatique settling in his bones. "Yeah, well I am now. I'd gone home for a little while, but something had been bothering me about the remains so I went to the morgue to go over them myself." He shuffled some papers around and the sound carried over into Bonanno's ear. "I know I already told you that the man had been dead for 24-48 hours before the bombing, but that's all we'd been able to determine at the time. I just couldn't figure out what was nagging at me, until got the report from Les that confirmed the victim's age."

"And that's what's nagging at you? His age?"

"Well yes and no. I mean I'd already determined from the tissue results that the person was an older adult, probably around 70, but I wasn't 100% on that, so I went back and checked and there were some more remains that were logged in while I was at home and I found a significant clue in those. The man was more likely closer to 80 years old."

"Okay, still not quite following." Again Bonanno heard the man sigh. "Wait, you said more remains were logged in? You found more at the scene since this morning?"

"Yeah...well you were out doing your rounds when they were collected and they hadn't been examined yet by Lester so I didn't say anything on those until they could get analyzed. It's those remains that held more DNA and I just discovered who the DNA belongs too."

"Who? How?" Bonanno had a sinking feeling that learning the identity wasn't going to put anything to rest. It was just going create more questions.

"We ran the DNA through CODIS and got a hit to a cold case in Texas. They belong to a man named Daniel Thomas Wright."

"Who's that? What's he in CODIS for?"

"He did a stint in Huntsville during 1977 when he was about 45. All I know was it was armed robbery. You'll have to follow that up, but I can tell you that Daniel Thomas Wright didn't exist until about a year beore he went to prison in Texas. Before 1976 there is nothing on him. He shows up in CODIS because after he was released from Huntsville in 1987 he was impicated in another robbery in McAlester, OK and then two others, one in 1992 and the other in 1997 both in Birmingham, AL. Alabama's the one who added him to CODIS after the '97 arrest. Then the cold case in Texas hit on that DNA too. I don't have any other prison records, looks like his age kept him out of prison pretty much or he had a really good lawyer. But he's seen a lot of jails over the years. All of his crimes have been pretty much robbery themed except for this cold case. However he's been all over the south so there may be more cases out there."

"Okay, so the old guy made robbery his lifestyle of choice. How is he related to Spencer and why was he at his house? And why the name change and hidden identity?"

"Those are all good questions, but I can only give you the answer to the first. He's Eliot Spencer's grandfather. The rest is up to you to find the answers to."

Bonanno took the information in. "What's the cold case in Texas?" Knowing with a sinking feeling that case was the at the core of his death.

"It's a murder case. An elderly woman was found dead in her home and his DNA was all over the scene. But not as the suspect."

"As what then?"

"The woman's husband. Her name was Viola Watson Wright. She was his wife."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Eliot knew what was coming the minute the man with the extended cattle prod touched him again. It didn't matter that the Doctor had sewn him up, his wounds would begin bleeding again and he didn't have the energy to fight him off. He didn't have the energy to fight off the pain anymore. He didn't want to die, but he couldn't take another shot of electricity. He was running out of juice here. _

_As the man slowly approached him, he felt his arms begin to shake from the strain of hanging there. But he had to push the pain down; deep down. He had to come up with the energy to fight. He knew he had to and he knew if he couldn't, he'd die and he wasn't gonna die, not today. He had to get out of this._

_Slowly as he watched, the man stopped suddenly and dropped the cattle prod as he cocked his head slightly to his left. Eliot realized at the same as the other man that something was off. There had been a noise. A very slight noise that was out of place here in this abandoned building. The man turned to look behind him back at the Doctor. Eliot could just make out the new sound. It was the distinctive sound of an old fashioned .38 revolver being cocked._

_"What are you doing sir?" He asked the Doctor._

_"My job, Benny." The Doctor replied as he aimed the gun not at Eliot but at the other man._

_And that was when Eliot realized something else was out of place. There was the distant sound of a whosh whosh echoing against the building. Eliot knew that sound by heart. He'd lived that sound everytime he was on one of these missions. It was the sound of helicopter blades. Someone was coming. Good or bad, he couldn't place just yet, but none the less someone was coming._

_The Doctor had also heard the sound and as his attention wavered from Benny to listen to the incoming danger, he gave Benny the opportunity to pull the knife from his belt that he'd used on Eliot. As the Doctor turned his full attention back to Benny, the man released the blade with lightning speed and Eliot watched as the blade disappeared in the left side of the Doctor._

_The man went down and he didn't move. Eliot watched as Benny moved to pick up the cattle prod once more. _

_"Now there's nothing stopping me from having some fun, American." He said in slightly broken English as he headed for Eliot once more. "Nothing at all."_

_"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Eliot replied his voice still sore from the torture he'd already endured. "Company's coming and you don't know if it's my side or yours." He knew it was now or never. "But I'm willing to bet my life it's not yours."_

_"Then I guess I'll just kill you fast then." He replied as he moved towards Eliot._

_Just as Benny reached Eliot and moved to stick the prod against his wet skin, the sound of the explosion rocked the building and took his attention away from Eliot. Benny turned to face the door to the room and Eliot took the opportunity to strike._

_He grabbed the chains holding his cuffed hands for support and pulled himself up to reach out and wrap his strong legs around the man's neck. Benny dropped the prod again as he reached with his hands to try and pry Eliot's legs from around his throat._

_But Eliot had had enough time to regain enough strength to keep his hold and as he slowly choked the life out of the man, he also had the time to realize that the chopper they'd heard was moving away from them. Whatever the explosion was, it wasn't aimed at rescuing Eliot. It was most likely a ground firefight somewhere close by, but not here._

_As he felt the last breath leave Benny, Eliot knew he'd have to hurry if he wanted to get out of there before the fight came his way, and he was not inclined to see anymore enemy soldiers at this point. He just wanted to get out of there. He dropped the lifeless body from his hold and with a cry born of his last reserves, he raised his legs up over his head to reach the chain that was holding him suspended from the ceiling._

_Once he had wrapped his legs around the chain and was hanging upside down, he was able to move his hands up over his legs and to continue movin hand over hand until he reached the beam over his head where the chain was suspended from a hook. He was drained but he needed to get free. He held onto the beam and after three attempts to swing his legs around it, he finally succeeded. Slowly and struggling with every movement, he finally moved to hold onto the beam with both hands and legs and swung around until he was now lying across the beam on his stomach._

_He took a few precious minutes to catch his breath and regain some control to his shaking limbs before he reached out and lifted the links of chain from the hook that had held him. He let the long chain drop from his grasp so that now he was only restrained with the handcuffs. From here he knew he couldn't drop back to the floor, it was about a twenty foot drop back down and while he knew he'd survive the jump if he were healthy, he knew he couldn't handle it with three knife wounds and shaking limbs. So he looked up._

_That's when he saw the small loft about thirty feet in front of him and he grinned when he saw the loft had access not just from the beam he was on, but from a hidden set of stairs he hadn't been able to see from below. If he could get to that loft he could get down and he could get out of here._

_He looked down and saw the two bodies lying below him. He spared a quick glance at the torture cart and could just make out a set of keys. Hopefully they were keys to a vehicle and if he was truly lucky there'd be keys to the cuffs as well._

_He continued to smile as he slowy began inching himself along the beam towards his target. He was getting out of here and he was so getting out of this business. He'd lost two men today not to mention all the men he'd seen go down in his history. He'd had enough of this. He'd had a mission once, to help his country, but now he was having trouble undertanding that mission with the loss of so many of his friends._

_To hell with everyone, but Eliot Hayden Spencer was about to just disappear for good. _

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly 11:00 PM Boston time and 9:00 PM Oklahoma time

"Hey, sweetie. How're you doin'?" Matthew Whitmore said into his cell. He'd taken a few minutes to step away from the action in Nate Ford's office section of the loft and was now sitting in the living room on the sofa talking to his wife, Emma.

He'd called her to check on her back home with her father. He listened to her answer as he smiled to himself. God, he loved hearing her voice even if they'd been married over ten years now. She was it for him, he knew that. What's more she knew that.

He hadn't told her about Eliot. Not because it was any kind of a secret, but because she was his sister and he knew one thing about these two Spencers above all else. They would die for each other. They'd had only each other after their mother and other siblings had died and their being twins gave them a special bond. Emma knew Eliot led a dangerous life, but she also knew he checked in whenever he could, which had become more regular over the last three years. Snce Eliot had joined Ford's team, he'd taken to checking in more frequently with Emma, and she was happy about that.

But if she knew Eliot was in trouble there would be no way he'd be able to keep her from coming here. She'd want to be right there in the middle of it all, and right now she needed to spend time with her father.

"That's great. How's Spence doin'?" He asked regarding their 8 year old son, Spencer Hayden Whitmore.

He listened as his eyes looked around the room. He was born a military man and it was a hard habit not to continually be aware of your surroundings. So it was because of this his eyes settled on the envelopes lying on the coffee table in front of him.

He saw Parker's name clearly on the top envelope, but it was the second one that got his attention. It was addressed to Emma Whitmore, his wife and Eliot's sister. And the writing was Eliot's. He knew he shouldn't mess with the envelope, it wasn't addressed to him, but he couldn't help wondering why if it was meant for her Ford hadn't given it to him.

He turned to see all of the other crowded around the monitors next to the geeky team member, Hardison. The guy was good at computers, damn good. He smiled as he remembered Eliot's words. _The guy was so damn good, he was unreal._ It looked like he had something. He turned back to the envelopes as he listened to is wife.

"Look, hon..I gotta let you go, something's come up and I may be unavailable for a while. Take care of Spence and your dad, and I'll be seeing you on Friday." He ended his call just as he heard Vance call him over.

He pocketed his phone as he quickly reached out and picked up Emma's envelope and then saw Jack Spencer on the envelope under hers. He picked it up and quickly folded them and slipped them in his jacket pocket as he stood up and headed over to the others.

"Got something?" He said as he joined them.

"Hell yeah!" Hardison's excitement came through his words as Matt smiled. Yeah too damn good for his own good, he thought. Eliot hould be proud.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma Whitmore slowly hung up her phone as she took in the fact that Matt had called her. That wasn't a normal thing when he was working. She always called him even if he couldn't answer, he always checked his voice mail.

If he called her it meant he was thinking about her or their son Spencer. She watched her father sitting with her son at the kitchen table. She smiled at the sight. She loved her father, but she knew he hadn't been the best father in her's and Eliot's later teen years.

She had been hurt by that, but after marrying Matt, she'd started seeing her father again and slowly they'd rebuilt their relationship and after Spencer was born, he'd been great. He loved his grandson. He loved Matt. He always asked about him and how he was.

But he never asked about Eliot. Emma didn't know what exactly had happened between the two the night Eliot had left home, but she knew better than to ask either man. Neither would have told her anything. She'd tried to find out in other ways, but all she knew was there was a lot of resentment between the two. She could guess that Eliot had probably called their father out on his treatment of them after their mother died. She'd felt the same as Eliot and she'd left shortly after Eliot had left after his visit to discover Aimee hadn't waited for him.

Aimee had hurt Eliot when she'd abandoned their love to move away and start another life without him, and at the time Emma had been furious with her, but she knew she couldn't completely fault her. Since she'd married Matt, Emma had learned about how men in the military disappeared. Matt frequently had disappeared during the early years of their marriage and she'd had to learn that special ops wives led totally different lives than regular military wives led.

She watched her father as he worked with Spence on the model car they were building. Her son had gained Eliot's love of cars. Eliot sent the kid a new kit every other month and Matt had built a special display case for the boy's room to hold all the cars. This month it had been a black '67 Chevy Impala.

Spence knew from experience not to mention Uncle Eliot to Grandpa Jack, and so her father didn't know it was Eliot who fed her son's addiction to the model cars. She wondered what he'd say if he knew just how good of an uncle Eliot was. She wondered what he'd say if he knew just how good of a _man_ Eliot really was. Because no matter what Eliot thought about himself, to her he was a good man. He'd always been and he'd always be.

She knew more about things than Eliot thought she did, and she knew how he felt about himself. She saw it in his eyes everytime she saw him. She sighed as she walked over to sit down at the table to join in the conversation between two of the four men in her life.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

_When Your Dreams All Fail_

_And The Ones We Hail_

_Are The Worst Of All_

_And The Blood's Run Stale_

"Dad, do you remember that time when mamma got so mad at El for standing on the back porch watching that big tornado coming? You know the one I mean, it was a bad one. I think he was what...about 13?" Emma asked her father as she watched his shaky hands helping her son to glue the front fender to the model car in his hands. "Do you remember that?"

Emma had made this visit back to see her father, even taking Spencer out of school for the week so he could see his grandfather one last time. She'd learned from her dad's doctor that his cancer had progressed and he was now in stage four of his kidney cancer. The doctor had confirmed her worst fears; her father had only three to six months at best. That was why she'd decided to come see him. To help him with the arrangements.

He'd called her before she'd called and gotten the news from the doctor and he'd asked her to help him plan his funeral. She knew he had cancer, but hadn't wanted to believe he would die. So after many words of denial she'd finally agreed and after hanging up from her father, she'd called his doctor and gotten the cold hard facts from him. The doctor told her there was always hope, but in his opinion, Jack Spencer would die soon. If he survived past six months it would be a miracle.

So here she was in her father's house sitting at her father's table watching him connect with his grandson. It was nine at night here in Oklahoma and she knew Spence should have normally been in bed, but she hated interrupting their time together.

Jack Spencer slowly laid the glue tube on the table with a hard calloused hand that shook ever so slightly. He was not a tall man, but he had always seemed a bit larger than life to Emma. She took notice of how her words affected her father just in the slight shaking of his hands and in his careful way of trying to hide the tremors.

Her father took a deep breath before he responded to her questions. "Yes, Emma. I remember." He watched as Spence took up another piece of the wheel he was working on to carefully attach the rims just like the picture on the box. "Why do you ask?" He turned his gaze back to his daughter's. Her warm blue eyes met his hard blue ones.

He had Eliot's eyes, Emma thought. Or rather, Eliot had his. They both had blue eyes, but whereas hers were a more deeper warm blue almost violet at times, Eliot's were the color of the sky on a warm cloudless summer day. Unless he was angry, then they were cold, icy cold. Like her father's at this moment. He did not like to talk about Eliot or about anything that brought up the memory of his wife, Mary her mother.

"I'm just... I mean I was just thinking about that." She paused as she looked him straight in the eye. "That was just a few months before mamma died and...well, I was just thinking about her and how beautiful she was. Even when she was so mad with Eliot."

Jack's demeanor softened slightly as he remembered his beautiful wife so many years ago. He'd tried hard not to do it, but since being given his death sentence, he'd found himself thinking more and more about his beautiful Mary. He couldn't fault Emma for thinking of her at this time too. He reached out a shaky hand and covered his oldest daughter's hand with his.

"She was beautiful. And for some reason, Eliot always brought that out of her even when it was due to anger." He paused as he seemed to be thinking about his next words. "She was always more angry with you though than Ellie. You and her butted heads a lot growing up, probably because you were both women and you were both the same." He smiled at her. "But she always had a unique presence when she was mad at her son. He rarely made her angry and seeing him just standing there not more than a few hundred yards from that twister, well...that brought out the very worst fear in her."

Emma gripped her father's hand in hers. She smiled back at him in thank you for actually speaking of Eliot. She felt the sharp sting of tears behind her eyes. She wanted to hang onto this moment forever, but knew it wouldn't last long.

"Yes, seeing him in danger really brought out her worst. Her father had disappeared in one when she'd been young and seeing her son just standing there just daring that tornado to do it's worst, well it brought back memories she'd thought she'd dealt with a long time ago." Jack almost whispered to her. "She'd been so mad, I thought she was gonna blow a gasket." He chuckled at the memory. Maybe remembering wasn't such a bad thing after all. Yes it hurt, but it also felt good. He'd forgotten how good memories could be. "Why are we talking about that particular memory? Eliot was always doing dangerous things."

"That's the reason, dad. Eliot's always had this unique way of getting himself in trouble." She watched her father as he took in her words. "And I think he's done it again. And I want...I need you to know that."

Jack Spencer reached out his other hand and gently stroked Emma's upper arm as she spoke. "El's in trouble again, isn't he?"

Emma Spencer Whitmore could not face her father without letting him see the pain in her eyes, so she kept her eyes on their hands clasped in front of her. "Yes, Dad. And I think this time that real danger has caught up with him."

It was a long moment before Jack responded. So long that Emma feared he'd shut himself off from the topic of Eliot again, so it was surprising to her when she raised her eyes finally to look at him and found his face full of concern. Not anger, but actual concern; possibly even fear.

"Is Matt looking for him?" He asked quietly so as not to disturb Spence's concentration next to them. At Emma's quiet nod he smiled at her weakly and added, "Then go to him. Go to Matt and help if you can. I'll be fine; Spence will be fine. Go to Matt and find Eliot. Find..." He felt his voice break as he realized just how long it had been since he'd truly said his son's name without anger. "Go find my son."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 11:15 PM

"Through all my hard work and my genius intellect-"

"Not now Hardison!" Parker warned as she stood next to the computer wizard. Everyone turned to look at Parker as she yelled at the man. "What?" She returned their stares. "He can be annoying slow when he needs to be fast." She said by way of explanation.

"I am not annoying, mamma! I just want to be sure everyone understands how hard it is to do what I do!"

Nate winced inwardly at the two. He knew he'd have to intervene or the two would have a battle of words going on soon. "Never mind Hardison, just tell us what you've found, please."

Major Whitmore and Colonel Vance stood next to Sophie in front of the table facing Hardison's television monitors as different information ran on each of the six screens he was using. There were reports and satellite graphics as well as maps that Sophie, for one didn't understand at all. Colonel Vance seemed to know what he was looking at though as he spoke up.

"What's all this here next to the city dump; did you find Eliot's signal there? Why is it not showing up now?" The man turned to face Hardison.

"First let me show you how it all works. I need all of you to turn off your earbuds so I can show you how yours all appear on my monitor." Hardison said to them. He'd already pulled his out and deactivated it before calling them over.

Sophie quickly pulled hers from her ear and pushed on it to turn it off then she pocketed it while Nate and Parker stared at each other before following suit. Hardison smiled at them as he watched their lines all show up as off on his monitor.

"Hardison, is this..." Nate pointed at one of the monitors showing a map of Boston. "Is this the area around the warehouses Quinn mentioned?"

"Yeah, it is. At first we thought his signal was coming from the city dump that the Colonel pointed out, but since I've run my decrypting program on that signal it has been more fine tuned. His earbud is at the dump there, but Eliot is not there. I'm not reading anything else from his signal." He motioned with his hand to another monitor that showed all the team member's names and a series of different colored lights extended out from each name. "This is how I monitor my team. The first light is either red, yellow or green depending on if the earbud is activated or not; or if one is even wearing their earbud."

"So the red lights next to your names mean you're not wearing it or it's not activated?" Vance asked, taking in the information.

"Both actually. If the light is green it's activated and being worn. If it's yellow it's activated but not being worn. And red is not activated whether being worn or not. I can run GPS on them when lit up in any color, but we can't communicate at all when it's red."

"Okay, so since we all have red lights then we know that means we've turned them off but still have them on our person?" Sophie asked as she turned to face the young hacker.

"Right. Someone has turned Eliot's off since I first got the signal." Hardison replied in an even tone. "It is not dead, my buds last forever, but if I have no lights then you have put it aside de-activated and it is not on your person. Somehow someone has turned Eliot's off now because it was on till about a half hour ago."

"Okay, Hardison. What do the other lights mean?" Nate asked pointing to the remaining two lights; the first one green for all of them, but the last one was green on Eliot's while theirs were all red on their lines.

"The second one monitor's the health conditions of the wearer. Showing green means that even if the earbud is not activated for communicating, I'm still able to verify if one of the team is sick or injured by how their body measurements are; like their body temp, heart rate, etc."

"Then why is this one green on Eliot? We know he was shot and should be in critical condition, how come it's green? Cause I'm guessing that green means okay normally." Parker asked now as she moved to stand next to Hardison in an effort to apologize to him for her earlier snap. It was the only way she knew to say sorry without actually saying the word.

Hardison looked her in the eye and smiled at her to let her know all was forgiven. She smiled back as he reached out and squeezed one of her hands quietly between the two of them.

He turned his attention back to his monitors before he replied. "That's just it. Someone other than Eliot is wearing his earbud. They are healthy hence the green light. But they also seem to know how to activate it. To send out a signal for us."

"Then that means if someone other than Eliot has been wearing the earbud, they've been using it to send out that signal." Nate mused as he carefully thought about what Hardison was saying. "Do they know how to work it Hardison?" He turned to face the young man.

Hardison looked directly at Nate and slowly nodded "Yes. They either have knowledge of our earbuds or they've figured it out really quick. They know how to turn it off and on. And they know that by wearing it, I'm able to read their body's signals. Which leads to the last light and why Eliot's is green and ours are red. It means..." He let the rest trail off.

"What? What does it mean?" Parker asked suddenly sensing that something was majorly wrong with the look passing between Hardison and Nate. "What are you saying, Hardison?"

"He's saying that because we were all wearing our earbuds up till a minute ago and this other person is wearing Eliot's we are all well as indicted by the green lights, but the last one shows us as red meaning we are not communicating via the earbuds anymore. Right Hardison?" At that Hardison nodded his head.

"Which means-" Hardison began.

"Damn it Hardison!" Colonel Vance said as the meaning sunk in. "Are you telling me that whoever has Eliot and is wearing his earbud has been listening to you guys this whole time?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 11:00 PM

Katharine sat in the back of the ambulance across from Doctor Richards. She was staring him down as she watched his every move. For now he didn't seem to be fazed by her hostility, but she knew he's soon feel differently.

The man thought he was in control of this; of everything, but he wasn't. Katharine had known the instant he'd left Eliot's room to go plan for their escape that he'd probably try to control Eliot's escape so he'd have the man where he wanted him. Yes, they'd needed his help. _She'd _needed his help, but only to get Eliot out of the house. Now his help wasn't really needed anymore.

She reached out to gently brush some of Eliot's stray hair from his face as the doctor continued to monitor his vitals. Eliot had yet to wake up and she was worried about that. The medication she'd given him to cause his heart to stop was a ruse to create an escape for them, but she worrying more and more with each passing minute that he remained unconscious that maybe she'd made a mistake in the amount she'd given him.

She'd given him the amount that she thought would do the trick, but now... well she was just worried. She returned her gaze to the doctor.

"With Evan is following us to the hospital, how are you planning on doing this?" She asked him.

He looked back at her as he thought about how to handle this. "I plan on doing the switch after we get to the hospital. I have a team waiting for us. As soon as we get him in an elevator after the ER visit, someone else will end up in Mr. Spencer's private room while we take him back down to the basement and out through the morgue entrance. I have all the equipment, much more stable equipment; all that we'll need is in an ambulance parked outside that entrance so all we need to do is just drive away with Eliot. "

Smart she thought to herself. Just not smart enough. "So you have nothing planned before we get there? I just have to wait and put everything in your hands and you're team for now?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Look, I already told you that yes, I want to get even with Mr. Spencer...Eliot; but I'm not stupid enough to cause him harm when I need him alive for that revenge." He watched Katherine's face as he spoke. "You are both perfectly safe."

"For now?" She added. At seeing his smile at her words, she knew they both understood each other. Well, things were about to change. Really change. She had her left hand in her smock top's pocket and she quickly worked her fingers over the injection cap to remove it from the needle she had hidden there. Eliot's dose of the same medication may not have been lethal, but this one was.

She stood slowly as if she were reaching for some supplies behind his head and quick as a flash, she pulled the syringe from her pocket and jabbed the needle deep into his upper back and emptied the syringe before he'd had time to react. The look she saw on his face when his hand came up to grab her hand that still held the syringe was priceless. This was her secret. No one ever suspected Katherine Malone Whitfield of being anything more than she appeared.

To all who looked at her they saw the nice looking green-eyed blonde who was a competent nurse and quite capable of handling any emergency. What they didn't see was the woman she'd become over the years. After loosing her brothers to war, she'd learned a hard lesson. Then when her husband...well when her husband died taking their daughter with him, she'd learned even more. She was dark too. Not military dark, just everyday dark.

Katharine had worked hard to get away from her husband in those early years, but hadn't been able to. The abuse he'd heaped on her she'd managed to keep secret as all abused women did, but she'd fought him in every way possible, even if it was just to not listen to him. She figured if she kept his anger focused on her, he'd never abuse their child. She'd been wrong and that had been the last straw.

That day before he was killed in the car accident had been when she'd planned her and her daughter's escape. She'd planned his accident down to the last detail. She'd planned her husband's murder to be blamed on his military enemies and she'd had Quinn's help in the actual device that caused the accident. She was all set up with different names and even had a place to go after his funeral, but things had gone wrong in every possible way. The least of which had been she and her daughter, Hannah had ended up in the car with him. It had all happened so quickly. She'd tried to protect her daughter, but she'd been thrown clear when the car crashed and had lain there watching her husband and child die in the wreckage the blast had left.

She'd blamed herself for so long for the death of her daughter that it had taken a long time for her to come back. She'd finally decided that the best thing she could do was to help other women in troubled abused relationships and that's what she did. She been able to help in small ways early in her marriage with her friend Bella being her first. She'd managed to get her out of her marriage with her brother Luke and Quinn's help, but then she'd lost Luke in the war and she knew it was her husband who had seen to it Luke went to Iraq. She'd lost a bit of Quinn too that day; he'd never been the same after that.

But now, Kat had a small network spread out all over the eastern coast and she had lots of contacts. It was one of those contacts who was now driving this ambulance. She'd called him instead of 911, and now all she needed was the equipment that would help her keep Eliot alive. The equipment Dr. Richards would be supplying.

She watched as the good doctor realized he'd just been killed by the person he'd least expected capable of it. He let go of her hand as his strength failed.

"You...your good." He acknowledged as the first sign, shortness of breath took hold of him. "I...I didn't see...that coming."

She pulled her hand back and moved to sit back down across from him. She watched the man as reality took hold of him.

"Just so you...know. Tell Spen...Spencer...I'm the one. I'm...the one who...pulled the trigger. I...shot him." And with that dying declaration he smiled and fell over to his left side in death.

Katharine watched as the man died and felt nothing but relief that one obstacle was down. This was her secret. She'd killed her husband. Her daughter too, even though she hadn't meant for that to happen. She'd killed other abusers. She rescued women from them and she had ended their abusers. This was what she did. This was who Katharine really was. She was a killer.

After what she'd been through she couldn't let another woman go through the same, so before she took a case she made absolutely sure what kind of man she was dealing with. She was no angel and she knew what was out there. And even though Eliot wasn't an abused wife or girlfriend, he was in danger of another person. So when she planned on getting him safe, she meant it. She killed people, but she also saved people and she now had to save Eliot.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma sat quietly in her seat on the plane. She'd quickly gotten her things together and with a hug and kiss from her son and father she'd gotten into the cab she'd called and gone straight to the airport.

She hadn't called Matthew, because he'd only lie to her about Eliot. And she knew he was with Eliot's team. She'd spoken to Mr. Ford earlier that day about her brother and before that she'd talked to the detective that had been asking questions about Eliot, so she knew something was wrong.

Then when her husband had suddenly called her out of the blue to check on her and Spence, well it didn't take a genius to put two and two together and get four. Matthew was in Boston with El's team and she was gonna find them and find out what was wrong because in all of the calls she'd gotten, all the evasive lying she'd endured, the one important fact in all of this was that she hadn't heard from Eliot. Not once.

If everything was all right with Eliot then the calls from Mr. Ford and the Detective would not have happened. Eliot would not have allowed them to call her or he would have called her himself and put her mind at ease. She knew it deep in her soul because being a twin meant one thing for sure and that was that they knew each other deep down. No matter how long since they'd seen each other, no matter how many miles were between them, they knew what was going on with the other. And she had not heard from Eliot in two months, so she knew he was in trouble.

And she was born a Spencer. She was built like her mother and that meant when the Spencer men pissed you off, the Spencer women pissed them off. So she was going to get to the root of this now and no matter what, they needed to be prepared, because Emma Spencer Whitmore was pissed off.


	22. Chapter 22

AN: I had one review that requested that I needed to work on the spelling and keying errors more in my story. I have no way to contact this individual as they were a guest, so I'd like to let them know if they are still reading my story that I have tried to go back and correct as many mistakes as I could from the first chapter on. I do not use a beta for certain reasons, so it is just me. I take all the blame and would like to request if anyone sees anything they do not understand, please let me know whether in a review or by PM. I will work hard to correct all errors. I have a defective keyboard where the buttons on the left side don't always connect so I know there are always mistakes. Thank you for reading this and now carry on to see what happens next.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I Wanna Hide The Truth

I Wanna Shelter You

But With The Beast Inside

There's Nowhere To Hide

Roughly about 12:00 AM on September 8, 2011 Thursday morning

"Kath - it's Benji at the hospital." Aaron said as he handed the cell back through the open space between the cab of the ambulance and the interior space where Katharine was sitting with Eliot and the now dead good Dr. Mark Richards. "We're almost at the hospital too."

She'd asked him to call Benji, a fellow nurse and colleague of hers that she knew would be on duty at Massachusetts General on his personal cell. In case her cell was being monitored she didn't want anyone to connect either Aaron or Benji with her or what she was doing.

She smiled in thanks to Aaron as she took the phone from his extended hand. "Hey Benji, I need a favor." She spoke into the cell as she reached into her smock pocket to check her own cell for the text from Bella saying everything was ready and waiting for her. This was good, she had a place and she'd soon have medical supplies at her disposal to help her take care of Eliot.

"It's about time. I was beginning to think you were invincable and didn't need to call in those favors I know you get offered being our savior and all." The man on the other end of the cell said to her. "Whatever you need, it's yours; you know I'd give you anything."

Again Katharine smiled as she heard the enthusiasm in the man's voice. "You don't even know what I need. You may regret knowing me once you do know." She replied evenly.

The other man chuckled lightly. "That's not going to happen. Ever. You saved my sister, I owe you her life. No favor is too big or too hard; trust me."

"Okay. Well, here's the thing...there's an ambulance waiting outside the morgue entrance that I need you to commandeer. Once you do that, check what equipment is in it. I need anything and everything you can tink of to care for a patient with two penetrating chest wounds with lung damage. He has two GSWs to the chest along with a breathing tube and a drainage tube. He was on a pluerovac, but was disconnected due to cardiac arrest and for emergency transport to the hospital. We are heading to you now via Aaron and his bus, but I'll need everything for possible long term care. Can you get a machine into that ambulance in case it doesn't already have what I need?" She knew she was asking a lot here, these machines didn't grow on trees and all of them would need to be accounted for, but she just hoped the good dead doctor had already located all of the equipment that she'd need.

"You're right, you don't ask for much." The man responded. "But Im on it. Just so happens I need to send some equipment to the 'closet' for maintenance," he added referring to the small closet they used to store equipment that needed repairs so it wouldn't be used in a crisis. "I'll just add a pluerovac to the list. I'm on again tomorow, so no one will know it's even missing for a few days. So since when do you help hes? Usually it's shes you help out."

"This is a special circumstance. He's not the bad guy. The bad guys are behind us in an SUV and in that bus down by the morgue." She said as she turned back to check on Eliot's breathing. He was going on twenty minutes on the portable pleurovac and she needed to monitor it's output numbers constantly.

"Okay gotcha. So am I going to have to commandeer this bus from anyone in particular or just bad guys in general? " He asked with a smile in his voice. He'd been looking for a reason to release a bit of stress from working a double shift with everything known to man being thrown at him. People still oved to poke fun at men being nurses.

"Be careful, Benji. These are real bad guys, not wife beaters. Take Joy with you, she'll be a good distraction and she'll do anything for you. She loves you." She said as she thought about Joy Tucker, the newest nurse to their hospital. She didn't realize she already had quite the reputation as being called something that rhymned with Tucker about just how easy she was to get into bed. "If there's more than one, don't do anything. Leave them to me. Just tell them Dr. Richards sent you to check the supplies and that he'll be arriving in about twenty minutes. That should give me time to bypass the ER and get to you. And thanks Benji." She added to the young man that she knew was putting a lot on the line for her here.

"No thank you Kath. See you soon."

Katharine ended the call and handed the cell back to Aaron. "Okay Aaron, now all I need from you is to find a nice semi-final resting place for Dr. Richards. Are you okay with that?" She asked the older man. No one would guess by looking at the man that he was a firefighter/EMT Paramedic. The man looked more comfortable in a biker bar.

She'd met Aaron Adams through the ER when he'd asked her out. She had to admit that at seeing him for the first time, taking in his shaved head and numerous tattoos had been a bit intimiating, but she'd said yes and gone out with the man and she was so glad she had.

They'd gone out a couple of times after that first date, but decided they made better friends than lovers so they'd hung onto that friendship. He was one of the few persons who knew almost all of her backstory and he'd been more than happy to help her whenever she needed it. He didn't have an attachment to an abused relative like most of Katharine's contacts did; he was just a really good friend.

"Not gonna be a problem, Katharine." He turned the wheel to head towards the hospital's ER entrance as he spoke to his partner on his radio who was following them with Evan Chapman in another vehicle. "Tracy will follow you into the ER and help you get downstairs to the morgue. She will also be sure Mr. Chapman's goons get lost along the way. She'll help don't worry, you can trust her. I'll head around to the morgue entrance to help Benji and drop off your supplies you already have with you. I'll also drop Dr. Richards off with the John Does piled up in storage after you leave. By the time they figure out who he is, it won't be connected to you." He smiled at her.

Katharine returned the man's smile as he sat behind the wheel of the ambulance. Their bus didn't have room in back for his partner since she and Dr. Richards were there and there was no way they were going to let Evan in the ambulance with them, so the partner was in Evan's SUV along with three of Evan's best bodyguards.

"Great. Thanks, and I hope to see you in a few weeks, but if not...well, I'll be in touch one way or another." She said to him.

He slowed as he reached the ER bay entrance. "I'm gonna hold you to that. You need me, no matter what, you call." He turned to reach out and pat her arm. "Take care Katharine, and please don't let this guy back there keep you from coming back. You hear me?"

She grinned as she thought of Eliot laying behind her. "I won't. I have a feeling that Boston is definitely gonna become home for me."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly 12:30 AM Boston time

Roughly 10:30 PM Oklahoma time

Jack Spencer sat down in his favorite comfortable chair after getting his grandson Spencer to bed in Eliot's old room. He'd always kept Emma and Eliot's rooms ready for their visits, although he knew Eliot would never use his. He hadn't been in that room in a very long time. Jack had lost Eliot that warm May night over twenty years ago.

He still remembered the day, it had been a Thursday in late May just before the Memorial weekend. Emma and Eliot had just graduated from High School that evening and by all rights Ellie should have been out celebrating with his friends, but instead he'd been packing to leave home. Jack hadn't gone to the ceremony, he hadn't even been sober enough to see straight let alone go to see his two children on one of the most important days of their lives.

Jack remembered how Eliot had dropped the bomb on him that he'd gone and enlisted in the Army and he was leaving. He was leaving Emma and leaving his girl Aimee. But mostly he was leaving him.

Eliot had said he couldn't take it anymore, sitting around wondering where his father was and if he was drunk or dead somewhere in an alley. He couldn't sit back and watch what was happening to his family, so he was leaving. Leaving everything behind him.

Jack sighed as he reached for the beer he'd picked up from the fridge on his way to the living room. His doctor said no alcohol with his medication, and he knew Emma would shit a brick if she knew he was drinking, but hell he needed it. And besides, what did it matter anyway? He was dying. No one could give him a guarantee of when he'd die, but it didn't really matter anymore. He was already dead in his son's eyes, so what was one more day?

He took a deep swallow of the cold beverage and sighed in appreciation as the wet cold liquid traveled down his parched throat to settle in his limbs and give him a feeling of lazy comfort. He knew alcohol was just a crutch, but he needed to have just this one.

He had tried hard not to think about Eliot in the years since he'd left, but tonight had brought back more than enough memories to cause him to feel the need for some liquid comfort. He knew he'd been wrong to let Eliot walk out that door, but he was just so damned mad at the boy at the time. How dare him call Jack Spencer out on his behavior? He hadn't lost his wife, his best friend, his whole life.

Jack sighed deeply as he felt the first prickle of tears when he realized at that moment, that no, Eloit hadn't lost a wife; he'd lost his mother, his brother, and his sister. He'd lost half of his family in one night and then he'd lost his father every day after that. He knew he'd been a bad father, but he'd just been so deep in the hurt of losing his Mary that he hadn't realized that his son and daughter were also experiencing the same hurt.

He should have known better, but he hadn't. He'd left Eliot at the young age of thirteen to run his hardware store and the ranch while he headed out to the local bars and it was Eliot who learned to drive their beat up truck at the same age to come get Jack's worthless ass from whatever dive he was passed out behind. It was always Eliot who took care of paying the bills and who made sure that both he and Emma had enough for school and he made sure there was money for Emma to go to college.

It was Eliot who had saved him so many times; saved his children and then saved other people's children. It was Eliot who even after finding out about his older brothers Eaton and Evan, had kept Jack and Mary's secret from the other children as well as the rest of the family. It was Eliot who had the most to lose at finding out he had older brothers then not being able to see them as brothers. He could have used those brothers after Mary died, but he hadn't told them anything. Eliot even kept the secret from them. It was always Eliot who took the hits and kept on fighting.

Jack felt the first tear drop from his eyes as he finally realized just how much he'd screwed up his life and his son's. He didn't cry. He hadn't cried at Mary's funeral or in the presence of Eliot or Emma. He just didn't cry. As he reached out to pick up his favorite framed photo of Mary and their four children taken just after she'd given birth to little Elizabeth, he felt his wife's presence like he hadn't in years.

"I'm at a loss here Mary, hon. How can I make things right with Ellie before I come to see you? How can I show Eliot that he's worth it when I gave him so many years of showing him he wasn't? How do I save Eliot after he's spent his whole life saving others? How?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 12:30 AM

Nate took in the chaos that was going on around him as it finally dawned on all of them what had been happening since this whole thing had started. Someone, most likely the someone who had taken Eliot had his earbud and they were listening in on what had been said between all of them.

If he had it figured out correctly, the first light on Eliot's monitor was to know if they were wearing their earbud. Green meant they were wearing it and it was activated for GPS as well as communicating; yellow meant they were wearing it but had turned it off for the communicating part and red meant they were not communicating but most likely still wearing it or carrying it on their person; if not on them at all there would be no light.

The second light meant if it was green they were all relatively healthy; the yellow light meant that something was wrong and Hardison was monitoring their health, and Nate could only assume that red meant they were dead.

The last light was the most important here. Nate learned Hardison only used red or green here no yellow at all. Red meant they were not communicating and green meant they were. Period. It didn't matter if they were wearing it or not, it was either red or green at all times. One or the other light was always on.

So this meant that they were all red and not communicating while Eliot's was green and communicating; and listening to all of them.

How could they have missed that? Nate understood whoever was wearing it was using it to keep track of Eliot's team and that meant they were one step ahead of them so how the hell did he recover from that? This person knew exactly what was going on and just how hard they were working to find Eliot. They also knew that they were making plans. They had been talking all day about every detail. They'd even heard when Detective Bonanno had visited them with his news.

He knew he needed to make some kind of plan right now before the person became suspicious of their communication ending, but he was at a loss as to how to work this out. Nate always prided himself on knowing exatly what to do, but he didn't know right now how to get past this.

As he listened to the Colonel and the Major arguing with Hardison and Parker on how best to proceed, he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder where he sat at the table watchng the monitor with Eliot's lights. The lights on Eliot's were all still green and they were just staring back at him as if they were taunting him. He'd felt off balance the minute realization had dawned on him about those lights and he felt like he was slipping off a roller coaster as it was hitting that big climb upwards just before it plummeted downward.

At Sophie's gentle touch he suddenly felt equlibrium stabilize for him. Her touch gave him some perspective. He was Nate Ford, the mastermind. It was his job to ultimately get them all out safely. Parker broke into things, Hardison cleared her way electronically, and Eliot cleared her way physically. Sophie grifted them into the place they were robbing to begin with, but it was Nate who got them all out of the place and back to safety in the end.

He turned and smiled up at the woman he was quickly beginning to realize he would have a very hard time living without.

"Got it figured out yet?" She asked softly.

He nodded at her as she sank down on the chair next to him and he felt her slip her hand in his on the table. She squeezed it and he returned it.

He turned back to the squabbling group. "Hey guys!" He raised his voice just enough to get their attention. When he had it, he continued on. "We can't worry about what this person has heard or hasn't heard. We just need to begin new."

"You got a plan Nate?" Hardison asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Cause I can't see how we can possibly get past this right now."

"Oh, Ive got a plan Hardison. We're going with plan M." He said with a slow smile to the group.

Haridson coughed loudly at that. "You know I don't like plan M, Nate. We need a different plan, man."

"What's plan M? Why doesn't Hardison like it?" Vance asked the group in general as he watched Nate slowly smiling at all of them.

Parker also was smiling at Nate's words. She turned that smile towards the Colonel. "Hardison dies in plan M."

The Colonel and the Major both looked at Hardison as they took in that information. "You don't like plan M. Gotcha." Whitmore said to the man. "Okay so how do we kill Hardison?" He returned his attention to Nate as he too began to smile.

"Hey you all don't have to be so eager to kill me, you know. Damnit Nate, I hate plan M!" Hardison said as he took in everyone's eagerness to hear what Nate had planned for him.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

_No Matter What We Breed_

_We Still Are Made Of Greed_

_This Is My Kingdom Come_

_This Is My Kingdom Come_

_Somewhere in Eliot Spencer's Past..._

_"Eliot? Are you all right, hon?" Mary Spencer asked her son from the doorway to his room. "Emma said you looked worried about something. Do you need to talk, sweetie?"_

_Eliot looked up from where he was still sitting on the side of his bed to see his mother standing there watching him with true concern in her eyes. He knew he needed to talk to her about the conversation he'd just overheard, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to hear her answer. Could he handle the truth?_

_Could he handle knowing his parents had lied to him and Emma all these years? It may not mean anything to other families, small lies, big lies; it might not matter to others, but it mattered to Eliot. His mother didn't lie, she'd never done that...before. But now he knew she had. He wasn't bothered so much about his father sharing in the lie, men did that sometimes, but this was a big secret and he was especially hurt by his mother's part over his father's part in deceiving him._

_He didn't care how young his parents may have been when they'd had Evan and Eaton, that didn't matter to him. He'd had time to figure out his mom couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 at the time and his father wouldn't have been much older than that. What bothered him the most was the fact he had two brothers he could have shared things with. He loved his sister Emma, but having an older brother would have been a wonderful thing. And having two, well that would have been even better._

_He didn't even think about the fact that Evan wasn't his favorite person, he only thought about the fact they were his true flesh and blood brothers and he'd missed out on having them in his life._

_"Are Evan and Eaton my brothers?" He asked suddenly. He didn't even think of trying to ease into it; he just blurted it out and watched the emotions running through his mother's eyes. _

_She looked scared at first, but then he saw the love she held for him pushing past the fear in her eyes. Eliot had always loved his mother's deep blue-green eyes, but at this particular moment he was lost in them._

_"Yes..." Came her quiet reply. She slowly walked into the room and closed the door behind her. "I never wanted to tell you, because, well because the reasons why aren't really important anymore, are they? All I can say to you is that your father and myself had our reasons, very good reasons."_

_Eliot stood up to face his mother. Eliot wasn't especially tall, but his mother wasn't a tall woman, so he stood slightly over her now as he reached out a hand to her. Mary took her son's hand in her own._

_"Why not tell me? Or Emma?" He asked, her fingers warm and comforting over his hand. "Why not tell any of us?"_

_"El, honey...all I can tell you is that I had my reasons and I still have to hold onto those reasons...for myself. I will tell you what I can, but there are some things that I just have to keep to myself. They won't affect you or Emma, but they are my feelings, mine alone." She reached out a hand and gently touched the strand of hair that was hanging over his eyes and pulled it back to tuck it behind his ear. "Let's sit and I'll answer what questions I can for you, but please understand that the entire truth of this cannot ever be told." She led him back to his bed and the two sank down onto it. "Ask me and I'll do my best to tell you what I can."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"No way, Nate. That is a terrible plan!" Hardison said as he stormed over to the refridgerator to extract another bottle of orange soda. "There is no way we can pull that off. And I am not gonna to let you guys kill me. There ain't no way I'm gonna let you or anyone else here put me in a damned body bag. No friggin' way, man!" He marched back over to his seat at his computer screens and slammed the bottle down on the desktop.

Nate had known that Hardison wouldn't want to do it, especially after he'd been buried alive and it hadn't even been a month since they'd faced that situation. Nate had noticed since that day, that Hardison now had a problem with tight spaces and moving among crowds. If he could think of any other way, he would have, but he couldn't think of anything else that they could do that would get them into the building.

"Look Hardison, it won't be for long I promise and Parker and Whitmore will be in the van." Nate replied as he ran a hand through his hair. "You're the only one who can handle disabling the electronics they have. You're the ony one I trust to do the job right." He knew he was playing dirty with that last line, but he needed Hardison on board for this part of the plan if they hoped to even begin to figure out who was listening to them and how they were related to Eliot's kidnapping.

"Damnit Nate. That ain't fair and you know it." Hardison sulked. He so didn't want to do this; not at all. But he understood the need to do it. This person could have Eliot or at the very least they would be able to lead them to him. "This ain't fair at all. Why can't I be the driver and Whitmore be the dead guy? Huh?"

Whitmore smiled at the young hacker as he stepped forward to join the conversation. "Because I don't know a damn thing about computers. I have people who do that stuff for me. And before you suggest it, Vance can't do it either. He's too damn big for the body bag." He looked at the Colonel who looked slightly offended. "Besides we don't know who this person is, but we have to assume that they are or once were military, and they will probably know me and Vance."

"Yeah, I get that, but they probably already know all of our faces. Being Eliot's team, they probably already know all of us. If they're smart, they already have all that research and know all of us, so we go in, they're gonna know we're pulling something on them."

"That's just it, they won't see you. They'll ony see Whitmore and Parker, so they will assume they are the ones pulling something. They'll be distracted with them and they won't see you at all. This leaves the field clear for you to get in and plant your bugs, cameras and disable their scanning equipment. It's a quick in and out. No one will know you were ever there. At least not until it's too late." Sophie consoled the young man from where she sat next to Nate.

Nate looked at the others in the room. "We all know you can do it, Hardison. You need to have faith in yourself."

"It ain't faith I need. I got all kinds of faith in myself, it's just..."

Parker walked over to Hardison. Out of all of them on this team, Nate knew Parker was the one who would be able to get Hardison to do it. She knew how he'd felt being down there in that casket and she'd felt the same when she couldn't get to him fast enough.

"Hardison, I believe in you." Parker said simply. "Do it for Eliot. He'd do it for you." The she reached out a hand and put it on his shoulder.

"Now that's hittin' low, mamma." Hardison mumbled as he looked up at the thief. "Damnit Eliot! Damnit it all of you!" He ran a hand over his face as he took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "Fine! I'll do it, but when we find Eliot I am so gonna make sure he knows what I did for him and I'm gonna ask for a ton of favors, beginning wth a gourmet dinner just for me. You guys," he pointed to each of them in turn. "You ain't invited."

Nate smiled as he watched the young man gave in. "I don't think that'll be a problem." He turned to look at the group in general. "Now we need to be sure we have everything down before we re-activate our coms. We don't want our listeners getting curious about how long we've been off the air."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

He smelled apples; green apples. He didn't understand that, he wasn't eating an apple was he? Maybe he was...

_"Okay, so today did not go well, but that's all right." Sophie said as she spoke to Parker sitting in front of her. "You know, we learn when we fail. We're gonna-we're gonna go back to the basics, and we're gonna do a little role-playing. We're gonna start with...with persuasion techniques." She turned to motion to Eliot next to her as she handed him a green apple. "So, Eliot has an apple and," she handed Parker an orange. "Alice has an orange."_

_"I love apples. Apples are my favorite fruit." Eliot said as he held the apple up for Parker to see it._

_"Good for you, Sparky." Parker said flatly, not in the least interested in this lesson._

_Eliot turned to Sophie. "I-I don't have to sit here and take this crap." He said grumpily._

_"Go on. Just do it for me." Sophie pleaded with him._

_Eliot sighed as he turned back to Parker. Fine, he thought. "You have an orange, all right? Now, convince me that I want the orange, not this apple." He paused, waiting for her to make a comment. " I'm gonna take a bite." He slowly raised the fruit to his mouth hoping Parker would interrupt him. When she didn't he slowly took a big bite out of the apple._

_"I put a razor blade in that apple!" Parker blurted out smiling wickedly at him._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Katharine watched as Eliot seemed to stir in his unconscious state. She had noticed that the man seemed to constantly be tormented with nightmares everytime he was out. She sighed as she bent down close to Eliot's ear and quietly whispered, "You're all right Eliot. You're almost safe now. Just a little longer."

She felt him mumble something so she moved her head closer to his mouth and could have sworn he said something about...green apples and...razor blades?

She shook her head causing her hair to gently sway over his face before she moved back to stand up next to Tracey, Aaron's partner as they both rode in the elevator down to the morgue.

"What did he say?" The woman asked as she'd watched the exchange.

"Nothing that made any sense. He's still out of it."

Tracey watched as Katharine reached out a hand to gently touch Eliot's chest. She'd noticed the moment they'd gotten past the ER department that this woman, a friend of Aaron's he'd said, was constantly touching this man. For whatever reason, this woman cared a lot for this man.

Tracey had heard a lot about her from Aaron, and she had to admit at first she'd been slightly jealous about the way the man talked about her constantly, but she soon realized that it had nothing to do with love in that way.

Aaron loved this woman, yes, but it was more like a broter did for his sister. He would do anything for her, and Tracey had to admit that after that first thought, she'd soon come to like this woman even if she'd only just met her. She knew she worked to help people who needed help, but she didn't understand the details and that was okay with her. Aaron trusted her and she knew he wouldn't do anything for just anyone unless there was a damn good reason.

"You like him." It wasn't a queston. Tracey just said it; it was an observation, but it was also the truth.

Katharine tuned her head quickly to look at the woman. "No..well, yes maybe. But not like that...I mean I just met him this morning, I...I don't know him well enough..." God she sounded like an idiot, she thought. How did she explain this? She didn't like him, not like that anyway. She thought about that; maybe she did like him. Maybe she'd liked him the instant he'd focused those blue eyes of his on her. Maybe...

Tracey smiled as she listened to Katharine stumble over her excuses. Then she watched as the woman finally began to realize she did like the man. "You like him." She said again with a huge grin on her face.

"Oh, shut up." Katharine mumbled at the woman. Then she couldn't help the soft chuckle as she took in the fact the woman wasn't fazed in the slightest by her rudness. "Well, maybe I do, but you'd know about that wouldn't you? You like Aaron." She said back at her.

Tracey didn't even try to deny it. "Yes I do. I really do." She continued with that goofy grin on her face as her thoughts moved onto the man in question.

"Oh, God. You got it worse than anyone I've ever seen." Katharine laughed at the woman. "Okay, so we're both idiots doing things for men who are just bigger idiots!"

Tracey watched as Katharine reached out a hand and laid it on Eliot's arm near the IV still attached in the crook of his elbow. "Damn straight!" She said.

As the elevator dinged that they'd reached the basement, Katharine realized that she liked this woman. She really liked her and knew she'd have to set Aaron on the right road here so he didn't miss out on this. "Tracey, just one thing. You hurt my big lug and I'll hunt you down." She watched the woman to see her reaction to her words and was satisfied when she turned to smile at her in understanding. "And if he hurts you, well if he hurts you I'll hit him where it will really hurt him." She added as the elevator doors slowly opened and she began pulling Eliot's gurney while Tracey took the head and began pushing.

"What, you'll kick him in the balls?" Tracy asked, with a grin. "I don't think that'll even faze him."

"Of course that wouldn't." Katharine began as they moved down the long corridor to the ramp that led up to the large garage type door that rolled up for transporation to make pick ups and deliveries of the deceased. "I'd never do that. No, you really want to hit Aaron where it hurts, you pull a Carrie Underwood."

Tracey stopped pushing as they neared the door. ""A Carrie Underwood?"

Katharine pushed the big button next to the door that made it slowly begin opening. "You know, dig my key into the side of his pretty little souped up ride." She sing songed. "He loves that motorcycle of his more than his balls!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Albert, when are you going to come to bed?" Marion asked her husband as he sat there at his infernal desk. "You got all the records switched didn't you? The police think the remains found in Eliot's garage are those of Daniel, right?"

Albert turned to look at his wife for the past forty-five years. She was still so damned beautiful to him. "Yes, it's done. It isn't as easy as it used to be. I mean when I had to switch your identity years ago, computers were not a big deal. Now things are so much harder." He replied evenly. "But I still need to finish up a few extra details and make sure that Eliot's team gets to the docks and soon. They need to find Liam and his men before they panic and leave the states."

"Is the team's ear thingies still off? I thought you said they didn't suspect anything." She asked as she walked into the room to slowly reach out a hand that had aged gracefully over these many years.

"No, they're back online, but I think they suspected exactly what I wanted them to. They were off long enough to put a plan together and it's about damn time. I thought I was gonna have to go knock on their door and draw them a damned picture." He chuckled at that. "They are up to something and if I'm right by this time tomorrow they will have all the answers they need when they take down Liam."

"Then hopefully they'll get Eliot back." She smiled. "I was so upset when we saw the fire that our poor boy was dead. It's a good thing there aren't many homes out this way. You'd never have been able to get Eliot's earbud and figure out what had happened if someone else had seen it too. It's ashame about poor Walter, although his heart attack couldn't have happened at a better time. I'm gonna miss him so much. He was my only brother."

"Well, I always say that something good always comes outta something bad. And Walter would have loved his ending. He was the real explosives expert that brother of yours, but I learned enough to get the job done, although I might have used a bit too much. It fooled the police, anyway."

Marion sighed as she thought of her brother. "Yes it did. Now all you need to do is figure out a way to mislead the police about my damned feet! I can't believe they figured out that there was a third person in that house and they got it half right; I was there, but I'm not a bad guy. They thought a small man or a woman because of my danged feet. I shouldn't have worn my boots like you said. You didn't leave footprints, but they found mine."

"Yes they did, but don't worry about it. We burned those boots and they aren't focusing too much on that part of their evidence. That nice Detective is more interested in Walter's remains they think are mine. He's a cop down to the bone so he'll chew on that mystery more than anything. Too bad we'll probably have to relocate again though."

"I know, I like it here and we're so close to our Eliot. Maybe we won't have too, if they don't find out anymore on Daniel."

"Yeah, maybe..." Albert Wilson said to his wife. "Maybe..."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

_When You Feel My Heat_

_Look Into My Eyes_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

Roughly 1:30 AM Boston time

Quinn watched from the cockpit as the now refueled plane took off from the field just outside Vienna. Vance had come through when he'd called to let him know they were approaching Austria. He'd sent them to the small airfield where his contact had the fuel truck waiting and he had been able to get in and out of the country without any problems. The airfield was used by the military of several different countries and they were indifferent to why Quinn was there, they just did their jobs and got them back in the air.

At this rate Quinn would make Braintree by 9AM and would be in Boston not long after that. He hadn't heard anymore from Kat, but he'd been given the details from Vance on Hardison's findings about the earbud belonging to Eliot. He was having a hard time believing that anyone associated with Evan Chapman would be willing to help them, so he was looking at the whole thing as a possible trap. Which Vance seemed to agree with at the moment.

Neither man wanted to believe that they had an ally behind the scenes simply because if they did, they should have used some other means to communicate their intentions instead of all this cloak and danger shit. Quinn trusted Kat with his life and that resolve came through in his voice when talking to Vance so he knew Vance believed in her too. At least for the time being.

Quinn would have to work hard to keep Kat's secrets, but he would. He owed her so much and she'd lost so much of herself in those dark years after losing both of her brothers. The two of them were damaged, but in different ways. Quinn knew what the war and military could take from you just as Kat did, but she didn't know how it left you feeling like there was nothing else out there you could do to find yourself again. She didn't understand how the military had taken from him the ability to anything else but fight.

Once you've worked dark, you never truly got out of it. You never got free of all the secrets and lies. He knew what she'd been through too, but she could never fully understand the hold Uncle Sam had on you once you've done their dirty work. And he could never understand the loss of a child the way she did. She had lost just as much as the women she saved. But she'd turned her life into helping instead of going the other way. Sure her methods were questionable and not legal, but he knew in his heart that what she did was right. His methods were not at all legal and he had done bad things for bad people for a very long time now. At times he'd fought so hard just to try and remember who he'd once been.

Right up until that meeting with Eliot in that airport hanger nearly four years ago, he'd been working for who ever could pay him the most money. He'd thought he could take Eliot Spencer down if he needed to, but he hadn't. He'd lost and he'd spent the last four years more or less floating around, becoming more of a retrieval specialist instead of the hired enforcer he'd been. He'd taken the time to try and keep to a better code. It wasn't easy, he knew that and he didn't kow how Eliot did it, but he wasn't giving up. He had put that dark time aside, pushed it away just so he could get through each day.

He'd only been a part of Eliot's last team for a short time when he'd lost Luke, so he didn't get to know Eliot as well as the others. He'd learned since that day though just what the man was capable of doing and it was what he was working hard to try and do too. Although he was working alone. He didnt understand how anyone could be a part of a team like Eliot's. He'd go crazy if he had to deal with that everyday.

He sighed as he watched Austria slowly disappearing as they moved closer to fly just under the clouds. He could see the city disappearing as the lights slowly faded from view. Soon it would be getting lighter outside the closer they got to their final destination. He reached for his cell and typed in the message he hoped would find it's way to Kat.

He hoped he was right in her destination and he intended to be 100 % conviced she was there before he relayed that info to Vance and the others. He needed to be sure the two were safe before they went in. He needed to be sure Kat knew what she was doing. And he needed to be sure no one got to them before he did.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 2:00 AM

Eliot winced in pain as he tried to take a deep breath. It felt like he had a friggin' elephant sitting on his chest and his eyelids were too damned heavy to open. He struggled to open them, but he just couldn't. He tried to focus his mind on only that task, but he just couldn't force them open.

He smelled green apples again, damnit. He didn't know why he was smelling that, but oddly enough it gave him a sense of comfort. Whatever it was, the smell made him feel safe. Safe from what, he couldn't remember exactly.

He tried to concentrate on that feeling, but something was nagging at the back of his mind. Something he needed to do. Something was wrong here and he just needed to remember what it was.

Then just as he was about to drift off again, he felt a soft touch on his forehead. It was fleeting, but it had been there. He wished he could reach out and track that touch, but his brain wasnt working with his body. Damn it, if he could just open his eyes he was sure everything would come back to him.

"Eliot?" Came the soft voice.

He remembered that voice. It was nice before; but now it was nagging him. He tried to respond, but he didn't know if he had. There was this buzzing in his head now, and he wasn't sure exactly what was causing it. He just wished it would stop.

"Eliot, can you hear me?" The voice again. "Damn it Spencer! Wake your sorry ass up!" And then he felt the sharp pain in the center of his chest again.

He opened his eyes with a sharp intake of breath at the pain. He blinked rapidly as he tried to focus in on the person behind the voice.

"It's about damn time. I was afraid you weren't gonna wake up at all."

Eliot focused in on the face of Katharine. Damn he remembered now. The woman was working on the bandages near the chest tube that he remembered was to help him breath, and she wasn't trying to be gentle with her fingers.

The woman was supposed to save him, but he was pretty sure the last time he'd heard her voice, she'd killed him. Or at least he thought she'd killed him, but that couldn't be possible since he was awake, wasn't he? Hell he had a headache now just trying to put things together.

He tried to speak, but all that came out was a raspy cough. He tried to move an arm to his face to push that damn oxygen mask aside, but for some reason his arm weighed a ton and he couldn't get it to follow his commands. He tried to speak again, but was rewarded with another bout of coughing that made the pain in his chest almost unbearable.

Katharine watched Eliot fighting for control of his body as she tried her best to hold him upright to help ease his pain while she removed the mask so he could work through the coughing. Thank God he'd finally woken up though. She'd been getting worried that something was wrong.

She'd gotten him in the ambulance and had driven about two blocks away from the hospital before she'd stopped to check on him when she'd heard him mumbling in his sleep again.

Taking the ambulance had been a piece of cake. The sole man that Dr. Richards had waiting for him had been easy to take down and Benji had knocked him out with a little help from a syringe he'd brought along with him and the guy was now sleeping it off in the morgue next to a car crash victim. He'd wake up disoriented and probably pee his pants upon seeing the dead messed up body he was sharing a table with, but he'd be alive; and the bst thing was he hadn't seen Benji so he wouldn't know exactly what had happened to him.

Even if he worried about getting taken down somehow, the good doctor wasn't there to worry about anymore. Benji had met Tracey and Kat on the loading dock and transfered all of Kat's supplies from Aaron's bus to this ambulance and Kat had been in luck to see all the necessary equipment was already there. Dr. Richards had thought of everything, so she had everything she needed to keep Eliot breathing. Katharine had just finished hooking him up to the new pleurovac and she'd assured the others that she would be okay to handle him and the machine when they got to their destination.

She'd have Bella and Sam help her with the equipment and getting Eliot settled. She'd texted them to let them know in code that she wouldn't need the car in Lowell, but she'd need their help and they were meetng her at the cabin. Now all she needed was to be sure the trip wouldn't be hard on Eliot.

She needed to be sure he was okay before she gave him any pain medication, so she'd tried hard to get him to wake up. It had taken a few tries, but finally the man had come around. She'd hoped that pain stimuli would do the trick, but he'd taken his time coming around and that only increased her worry.

"What the hell happened?" He rasped out as his coughing finally eased. He cursed his dry throat as he tried to speak again.

Kat opened a bottle of water and gently held it to his lips to help him take a drink. He was confused at first, but then quickly understood as he took the water in slowly. When he'd had enough she gently laid him back down on the gurney. He was watching her with eyes that, although showed he was in pain, were now bright and clear, and incredibly blue, she thought. Damn he really did have the most gorgeous blue eyes she'd ever seen.

"What happened is you died, and we saved you." She said matter-of-factly, hoping to hide how happy she was that he was finally awake and talking.

"Right. So...so you want to fill me in some more here, 'cause I'm pretty sure you're the one who killed me." He said huskily as she moved over him, checking his IV's and reading the monitors above his head.

He could see he was in an ambulance, but he didn't know how he'd gotten here. "Where are we? How I get in here?" He really hated not knowing what the hell was going on. It made him feel defenseless and that was something Eliot hated above all else.

"We're on our way to a safe place. I just needed to be sure you were still my patient before we got started." Kat reached for a pre-packaged injection syringe and ripped the paper off in preparation to inject the morpine into his tubing, when Eliot quickly reached out and grabbed the wrist holding the syringe, taking her completely by surprise. Then with a strength that surprised even him, he quickly reached out and grabbed her other wrist.

He wasn't taking any chances this time, he was not going to be drugged up again. "No more drugs. I mean it Kat. No more." He said as he watched her taken by surprise. He smiled a little at the look on her face. "I cn't let you keep drugging me."

Kat looked at him and realized for the first time since she'd laid eyes on the man, he was more aware than he'd ever been. "Okay, fine. No drugs." She conceded as she tried to pull her hands free, but he held strong. Damn she thought, he's too damn strong for his own good; or mine. "I promise Eliot, no more drugs. But I have to be sure you can handle the trip. We have about a two hour drive to reach safety and I don't want the trip to be hard on you."

"Where are we and where are we going?" He asked again as he held tight to her wrists despite her attempts to pull free. "You haven't exactly let me in on what the hell is going on and it's me that's in trouble here. And I'm still pissed at you for all the drugs you keep sneaking into me."

Katharine smiled at him. She put out her best melt your heart smile and was a little miffed when he just laughed at her. Although the sound of his laughter was deep and rich and seemed to hit her directly in the middle of her chest.

"Don't even try it. While I'm sure that you've had great success with those long lashed mossy green eyes of yours, it ain't gonna work on me. You can't bullshit a bullshitter, remember?" That felt so good to say, he thought with a smirk. The look on her face was priceless. "Look, I just need to know what is going on and I need to have all my brain cells functioning, you got it?" He added as he realized he didn't like seeing the slightly hurt look on her face at him turning the tables.

She realized he had her on this one, and she slowly grinned at him and nodded her head. "Fine, we play your way." She said as she allowed him to release her empty hand and reach out to take the syringe from her still captive hand. When he had the syringe safely out of her reach, he let go of her other hand. She continued smiling at him as he slowly relaxed back down onto the gurney. "For now." She added, smiling wickedly at him.

Eliot couldn't help grinning up at her. He couldn't win with this woman. "Yeah, for now. So let's get things in order here. Where are we? Why am I in this ambulance? Where's Evan and the doctor? And where the hell are we headed?" He pause as she reached out to gently move a strand of his hair from his face. He found himself longing for her touch and it took him a second to get his mind back on point.

"We're headed to Manchester, Vermont. I have access to a cabn there and friends who will help me to hide you while you recuperate."

Eliot took that in. "Friends? You trust them?"

"Yes." She answered emphatically. "They're like family and they'll help me. They always do."

"Always do? You need help a lot?" He spoke softly as he remembered how she'd almost told him about once being a mother. "Something tells me that once we're safe and settled, we need to talk. There's things about you that are intriguing, and I can't help but ask why?"

"Why what?" She asked confused.

"Why are you helping me? You don't really know much about me and if you did know things about me, you might regret putting yourself out there." As he watched her thinking about that, another thought came to him. "You didn't get me out of Evan's house by yourself. You had to have had help there too and now you and all your friends are all in trouble. I don't want anyone hurt on my account, Kat." He turned to look away from her as he felt his strength slowly waning. "I've done a lot of things in my life...a lot of things that weren't good..." He rasped out as his throat became dry again.

Katharine got up and moved behind his head to lift the gurney until it clicked so he was in a more upright reclining position. That helped his breathing a lot as he felt the pressure ease on his lungs. He waited as she checked that the bed was locked in position and then moved back to sit once again beside him. She had the bottle of water with her and she handed it to him.

"Since you seem to be able to lift your hands easily enough, I think you can handle this yourself." She replied evenly.

While she watched him take the bottle and drink she thought about how to answer his questions. The wherse and whats were easy enoough, but the whys were another thing entirely She didn't want him to know about what she did or about how she'd killed the good doctor, all to get them safely away. She couldn't tell him about the things she did in her secret life.

She knew he'd probably understand based on his own life, but there were only three people in this world who knew exactly what and why she did what she did. One was on his way in from another country to help her and the other two were meeting her at the cabin. She'd never let anyone else know exactly what happened to the men she took down, not even the women she rescued from them.

She decided to ignore his confessions and telling him anything about the doctor for now. She took a deep breath before she spoke. "Evan is back at the hospital. After I _killed_ you, me and Mark saved you and got you out of the house under the pretense that the next time you coded we wouldn't be able to save you without a hospital and more stable equipment. He really had no choice, the doctor was quite persuasive." She paused as she looked down at the pluerovac and mentally noted the reading was holding steady. "He thinks you are headed for the intensive care unit right now and I'm sure he'll be pissed when he discovers you're not there. And yes, I had help, but Evan will never know abut them. I got you out of Evan's house with the doctor's help and then I had some help from friends once we got to the hospital."

Eliot looked at her. "The doctor helped you get me out of Evan's?"

"Yes; as I said he was quite persuasive. I think he wasn't to keen on sharing his revenge with Evan, so he was willing to help me get you out of tht house. Besides if anything happens with Evan, he'll be looking for the good doctor." She noted that Eliot was watching her intently. It was a bit unnerving seeing him watchng her like that, because she knew he knew she was holding back information.

Eliot did realize she was hiding something, but he knew her well enough now to know she'd tell him when she was ready. "Okay. I'm kind of tired now, so where ever we're going, maybe you should get started." He watched the relief flood over her face and he smiled inwardly. He liked seeing her relax. He liked seeing her period, he realized. It suddenly dawned on him that he really liked waking up just now and seeing her face. "Once we get safe, I'm gonna need to find a way to contact my team."

"Your team?" She asked. She hadn't heard him talk about having a team out there. "You have a team? Why the hell didn't you mention them before; I could have called them to come rescue you."

Eliot thought about that. He hadn't really been thinking clearly until now. "Probably because every damn time I started getting some kind of brain function going, you knocked me out." He responded with a smirk.

"Funny. You're a funny guy, Eliot Spencer." She replied drily. "Where we're going phone reception is hit or miss, but we can stop before we get to the cabin and call them. I called a friend of mine to help me get you out earlier, but he was out of the country. He's headed back to the states and should be here sometime by noon, I think. He says he knows you." She watched him as she spoke.

"Who is he?" Eliot asked feeling suddenly anxious about this friend.

"His name is Travis and he was Luke's best friend. Maybe you met him since you said you knew Luke."

Eliot blinked at the woman in front of him. Travis? Travis Quinn? "You know Quinn? And you called him?" Great. Quinn was probably the last person that he trusted to help him without monetary motivation. Then again, he thought. He remembered how close Luke and Quinn had been on that one and only mission Eliot had worked with him. "Great. You're friends with one of the last people I trust to help me without a catch." He took in a deep breath as he felt it hitch in his chest. He let it out slowly and reached for the oxygen mask laying next to his head.

Kat helped him put the mask over his face again. "Yes Travis is the only family I really have left and he will help you."

"And just why would he be willing to help me?" His voice sounded distorted and far away even to himself with the mask in place. He slowly moved it to rest down around his neck. Close just in case, but not in the way while they talked.

"Quinn will help you simply because I asked him too." She pulled the sheet up a bit higher to cover Eliot's torso as she took in the fact that the color he'd had in his face upon waking was now fading. He was getting tired. "I know you two know each other, and for whatever reason, you've been functioning enemies, but Quinn will help you. I have no doubt about that."

Eliot remembered how Quinn had stared at the picture of this woman that Luke had shown them. Yeah he'd help, he had no doubt at all. He'd help not because she was Luke's sister, but because he loved this woman. Or at least he had all those years ago. Eliot didn't know what had happened in Quinn's life, but the look Quinn had on his face back then was the look of a man who would walk through fire for this woman.

"He loves you, you know." He spoke softly not meeting her eyes.

"I know."

He jerked his head to look at her then and when he saw her grinning, he was confused. "You love him?" He asked not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Yes, I do." At taking in the way Eliot was avoiding looking at her, she quickly added, "but not in that way. Quinn has always loved me like...that, but we both learned after losing Luke that kind of love would never work out. I never loved him the same way, and I was...married at the time. Quinn would die for me, and I for him, but we will never be in love with each other." Kat smiled down at Eliot and she did something she hadn't planned on. She bent down and gently placed her lips to his.

Eliot was surprised at first, but he quickly felt the urge to return her kiss. He sensed her holding back a little until she knew how he would respond, so he slowly deepened the kiss by moving his hand to the back of her neck and pulling her in closer to him. He felt her response deep in his chest and while he was still in pain, he soon forgot all of that as she moved a hand to his arm holding onto her.

He felt her tongue slowly move to stroke over his bottom lip and he felt the urge to go further, but knew he didn't have the lung capacity to do so. He allowed her to end the kiss by pulling back from him, but just barely. He still held her close and he felt a slight tingle of pleasure as he saw the raw emotion in her eyes which he knew was a mirror to his own. God, she really did have the most amazing green eyes.

"Okay." She replied with a grin. "That was so much more than I thought it would be. But...I think we need to get moving." She felt sad as he reluctantly released his hold on her, but felt a shiver as he ran his finger down her cheek.

"Yeah..." He replied. "Get a move on, woman. You're supposed to be saving me, remember?" He smiled as he spoke.

"Gotcha." She got up and moved to step out of the ambulance.

Just before she closed the doors, he replied, "Oh, and by the way Kat, I know where you stashed that other syringe, so don't even think about sneaking up behind me later and knocking me out again." He winked as her mouth fell open at his statement.

He laughed as he took a long pull from the bottle of water and recapped it letting it fall to lay on the gurney beside him. He was in too much pain to pull another stunt like he'd already done to stop her, but she didn't know that. Now she'd be more cautious because she didn't know if he had the strength to stop her or not. That was enough to insure him he had a while anyway to try and get his pain threshold leveled out and he wouldn't have to worry about her sneaking up on him; and to ponder these feelings after kissing her.

He also realized that if he fell asleep though he knew all bets were off. He sighed as he knew he'd now need to try and stay awake for as long as he could and that wouldn't be easy. He winced as he felt her jump in the cab of the bus and start the engine. He didn't know for sure how he'd gotten away from Evan, but for the first time in twenty-four hours he was beginning to feel like he just might survive this if he could just keep Kat from knocking him out every damn minute; or from taking his breath away.


	25. Chapter 25

AN: I wuld like to thank everyone for all the reviews. I am tryingmy best to get this updated once a week. I am now working on the next chapter and will have it tomorrow maybe if everything goes right and it will be mostly Eliot and Kat. So be on the lookout. And again thak you one and all!

Chapter Twenty-Five

_Don't Get Too Close_

_It's Dark Inside_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

Roughly about 3:15 AM Thursday morning Boston Time

Emma moved quickly through Logan International Airport, bypassing baggage claim since she'd packed everything she needed in her carry on. If she needed to stay more than a day or two, she'd buy whatever she needed. Right now all that mattered was getting to Matthew and giving him and Eliot's team a piece of her mind.

She'd had time on the plane to think over all the phone calls and messages she'd gotten in the last twenty-four hours. She'd also taken into account all the things that _hadn't_ been communicated in that same time, and she kept coming back to the same thing that was causing her anxiety. In that entire time she hadn't heard one word from her brother.

Eliot never would have let the calls from Matthew, that detective Bonanno or from Nate Ford get to her without giving her some kind of excuse as to why. He wouldn't tell her the truth, but he'd give her the benefit of telling her himself not to worry about him. It wouldn't work, but he would still have contacted her himself, unless... unless he wasn't able to. So that's how she knew her brother was in trouble. The worst kind of trouble. Eliot trouble.

Eliot had led a rough life and he'd never kept in contact with others during those years, but he had always tried to let her know he was still alive and breathing every chance he got. Even when she knew he was doing things she didn't want to know about, he still wrote her a note or sent her a quick text. She had a shoebox full of postcards from many different and exotic locations.

And she knew Eliot would never missed her son's birthday. Not once had he missed a card, call or a gift sent by mail for his nephew. He even tried to remember hers and Matt's birthdays and anniversary with a card or note.

Eliot was the one in their family who remembered every important date and always acknowledged them. Even if he automatically knew her birthday since it was his too, he still made her feel special by making it all about her. No, her brother would never have ignored her. It wasn't in him.

As Emma walked through the doors to head for the taxi lane, she couldn't help thinking how Eliot even remembered their parents' and siblings' birthdays. She always found fresh flowers on her mother, brother and baby sister's graves every time she went there, and she knew they were from Eliot. He would have denied it if she'd asked him, so she never asked. She let him do what he needed the only way he could.

She heaved a deep sigh as she flagged down the next taxi and slid into the backseat pulling her carry on bag in after her. She struggled to get her bag settled next to her as she shut the door.

"Where too, ma'am?" The rather nice looking driver asked as he glanced at her over his shoulder.

Without really thinking she replied, "I need a bar."

The driver turned to her with a grin. "Well ma'am, you might need to be a bit more specific than that seeing as Boston has a bar in every other building."

She couldn't help smiling back at him as she realized how she sounded. "I need to find McRory's Bar. I don't know the address off the top of my head, I forgot to bring my address book. Do you know it?" She hoped he did and she wouldn't have to waste time waiting for him to look it up.

The driver looked her up and down. "Not going for the spirits, I gather." At her slight nod, he smiled. "I know it. Just so happens my brother's a policeman and it's kind of a local cop hangout. Don't know if it's open this late, but I can get you there."

"Thank you." She replied as she realized she liked the man. Her first time in Boston, and so far she liked it. "There are apartments over the bar and my husband's there."

"All right, McRory's it is then." He turned around and turned on his meter as he pulled out into the traffic and headed for the city with Emma watching the scenery fly past her window.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What the hell do you mean, he's not in the ICU?" Evan practically yelled at the nurse working the information desk in the ICU department. "He came in through the ER. I followed the ambulance here and watched them wheel him in. They told me he was stabilized and was being sent here to the ICU!"

The nurse reached out and picked up her desk phone to alert security. "I told you, sir. If he came in through the ER, he hasn't been brought up here yet and I haven't heard from them yet to even have a record of him bing sent to the ICU. I'm going to have to call security if you continue to create a disruption as we have other patients here in very critical condition, not to mention their families. We cannot have this kind of disturbance." The nurse replied as she stood toe to toe with Evan Chapman. No one came into her ICU and messed with protocol, she didn't care who he said he was.

Evan backed away a little as he realized what kind of scene he was causing. The last thing he needed was rental cops. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just that he's my brother and he almost died, and..." he paused for dramatic effect as he swallowed hard. He hoped he was coming across more sincere and worried than he really felt. He hated pretending to care about people. God, he hated showing any kind of feelings for Eliot other than negative ones.

The nurse narrowed her eyes at him then seemed to relent. She replaced the phone and turned to another nurse standing back from the group of men facing off against her nurse supervisor. She didn't know who to feel the most sorry for.

"Alice, run down to the ER and find out where Eliot Chapman is." The senior nurse spoke quickly. Then she turned back to face off against Evan again. "That is the best I can do for the moment. I'm sure your brother is fine, he's probably still in the ER waiting on the paperwork before being moved up here. I'm very organized and I know who should be here and who shouldn't. So until we know more, I'm going to have to ask you to move yourself and your gang of thugs to one of the waiting rooms at the end of the hall." As Evan started to protest this, she added, "I don't care who your brother is or how much protection you think he needs. Until he's on this floor and you have the paperwork to support the posting of private bodyguards outside his room, then you are not allowed in this area. As I said before I will not allow my other patients' care to be disrupted. When you have the paperwork, I'll be right here." She crossed her arms over her chest and watched as Evan realized he wasn't going to win this battle.

"Fine. Ma'am." He replied as he turned to his men and motioned for them to go on to the waiting room. He turned back to the nurse. "I'll be in the waiting area and I'll have my lawyer here within the hour with the necessary authorization. Just... please let me know if you find out anything about my brother." He watched as it seemed his words reached the nurse's heart. She seemed to melt the ice queen exterior just a bit as she nodded her head in affirmation.

As nurse supervisor Jacobs watched Evan walk away, she turned to pick up the phone again from the nurse's station. She punched in a number and waited. "Benji? You guys clear yet? This Evan Chapman is a piece of work."

"You okay?" Benji asked as he helped Aaron lift the body of Dr. Richards onto the gurney while he had his cell clutched against his shoulder and ear. "He didn't do anything did he?"

"I'm fine. But I could only buy you about 30 more minutes before this guy starts in again." She replied as she kept her eye on the hall for the man in question. "I stalled him with paperwork, my specialty." She chuckled as she said it. "You know me and paperwork."

Benji laughed at that too. "Yes I do." He moved to cover the body of the doctor with a sheet and then let Aaron push the gurney into the morgue's cold storage section for John Does. He watched as Aaron moved the body all the way to the back of the freezer and moved several other gurneys in front of the body. "Katharine's gone now, so the longer w can stall the chances of her getting her cargo safe increases. She'll text me at 4AM if shes okay. If she doesn't text, she gave me a number to call. So all we can do now is play dumb. We don't know what happened to Eliot Chapman. We didn't see him come in. Aaron and Tracey are back on duty and they'll be safe. When they get off duty, they're heading out of town for a vacation they've been planning for weeks. Me, you and Joy are just working stiffs."

"Got it. Glad to hear she's clear. Okay, I'll see in you in a few minutes. And don't forget to clean up after yourselves down there."

"Yes, mom." Benji said and then hung up. He made sure Aaron and Tracey were loaded back in their bus and he watched as they drove off. He turned to Joy then and gave her a thumbs up as they both headed for the elevator.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Albert Wilson finally turned off his computer and put Eliot's earbud down on the desk. He wanted it to still be on even if it wouldn't resgister he was wearing it. He had to admit that Hardison fellow really was a genius. These earbuds were excellent. Too bad technology kept changing everyday. He was getting old and it was getting harder and harder to keep up.

He was rather proud of himself, though, considering he hadn't taken to computers until the last five years or so. He'd learned quickly and thanked God everyday that his brain was still sharp as a tack. He'd learned enough to be able to hack into the police departments where he had wants and warrants and had changed the DNA files they had on him. He switched them out with his brother in law Walter's.

That meant that the police now thought Walter was Daniel Thomas Wright. Albert had once been Daniel Thomas Wright and before that, he had been James Eliot Wallace, the father of Mary Wallace Spencer, Eliot's mother.

He'd disappeared in a tornado when his daughter, Mary had been barely five. He hadn't meant to disappear, he'd been injured in the storm and when he'd woke up two weeks later in a hospital in the next county, he didn't remember who he was. It was 1957 and no one know how to find out who he was, so he'd simply walked out oo the hospital after he'd healed and never gone back to his old life.

He'd taken on different names through the coming years and never really settled down anywhere until he'd stepped into that small diner in Little Elm, Texas. There he saw the woman he knew he would love for the rest of his life. His Marion. He'd asked her out and as they got closer he'd told her he didn't know who he was. She didn't care. The two were married two months after meeting and they'd never spent more than a day apart until he'd been sent to prison.

Marion had only an older brother, Walter who was in the Army and so they moved around a lot, changing their names, taking on whatever jobs they could to get by. Then they'd somehow fallen in with the wrong bunch and he'd spent 18 months at Huntsville prison.

When he'd gotten out they'd found it harder to get honest work, so they did what they had to get by. As time went on, he'd started remembering more and more about himself, until finally it had all come back in a rush.

He knew he'd been married before and so he and Marion had looked up his former wife only to discover she'd remarried and then she'd passed away. He'd found his daughter though and he'd watched her as she grew up and had her family. He'd watched his grandchildren grow and when his daughter and two of her children had been killed in that car accident they'd gone to the funeral, staying in the back. He'd watched over Emma and Eliot the best he could after that, but as time went on he and Marion had had to move on to avoid discovery.

He hadn't known what kind of life Eliot and Emma had led after losing their mother until they'd gone back to quietly watch the two kids graduate from high school. After that Albert had done whatever he could to constantly know where the two were. It was hard at times to keep track of Eliot after joining the military and moving around so much, but they'd kept an eye on Emma and her family and knew Eliot contacted her when he could.

Then finally a little over four years ago, they'd finally seen Eliot settle down somwhat in Los Angeles, and then here in Boston. They really enjoyed it here the best; they really liked the coast. They were so close to their grandson and it had been a dream come true. An now someone had came and taken him away from them and they didn't know where he was.

It was just a fluke that Marion's long forgotten brother had come for a visit and he'd suffered a heart attack and died there in their home. They didn't know what to do, as they didn't need the police involved in their lives even a lttle bit. Then they'd seen the fire at Eliot's and by the time they'd gotten over there and put it out, Marion had come up with the plan.

After they moved Walter over to Eliot's and placed him in the truck they set off the explosives. While the police and fire department worked on Eliot's place, Albert had been able to hack into his own files from Texas and switch his DNA for his brother in law's. He didn't have anyone else he could switch it with that he knew was the same age, so he'd sacrificed his DNA. That meant the police would question his relationship to Eliot, but he hoped that even if they told Eliot about his grandfather's remains, there was nothing that could be done about it. He'd died in the explosion and that meant no questions could be answered.

That also meant they'd have to probably move on again. That bothered him the most as he knew it bothered Marion too. They loved Eliot so much, but maybe they needed to spend some time watching over Emma for awhile. Or maybe they'd check out their son-in-law and make sure he was doing okay.

Albert knew he hadn't been the best father to Eliot or Emma, but they'd seen him with Emma's son and they could tell he did care, he just didn't know how to let his children know.

And Albert knew he'd loved Mary. They'd seen his home and his pictures of her all over the house during visitation after Mary's funeral. Yes, Oklahoma maybe; it would be nicer than DC in the winter. He smiled as he crawled into bed next to his Marion. Yeah, they could settle in and buy a farm maybe and hire some help for the place. They'd tell Eliot they were movng and then maybe he'd have a reason to come visit his home town and see them even if he only saw them as his nice elderly neighbors.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

_At The Curtain's Call_

_It's The Last Of All_

_When The Lights Fade Out_

_All The Sinners Crawl_

Roughly almost 3:30 AM Thursday Morning

"I want it on record that I still think this is a terrible plan!" Hardison said as he sat at the dining table letting Sophie put make up on his face. Make up of all things, he thought. No descent man wears make up even if said man is going to be pretending he's dead and in a body bag.

"Yes Hardison. You've said that eight times already so it has been noted that you hate this plan." Nate said as he walked back and forth in front of the pair. "But it's the only plan we got and you're the best man for the job. We've been all over that already."

"Hey, kid don't worry. We told you, I'll be with you the whole time and ain't nothing bad gonna happen to you." Matthew Whitmore said from his seat across the table. He wanted a front row seat for this make up session. He knew Eliot would want to know how they'd painted up Hardison to look like the living dead.

"Somehow that don't make me feel any better, man." Hardison snapped at the Major. "You done a bang up job keeping Eliot's ass alive all these years, oh wait, no that was Eliot himself keeping his own ass alive!"

Colonel Vance couldn't stop the laugh that burst from him at that comment, but he quickly hid his mirth when Hardison turned his pale face on him. The guy really did look like a member of the Walking Dead cast. Sophie was very talented.

"Don't you laugh! You don't get to laugh! You ain't helping either, so you don't get to laugh!" Hardison threw at the man. "You two may know Eliot and you may know who has him and you may even be able to rescue him, but you ain't the ones gotta play dead and get stuffed in a bag, so you two don't get to enjoy this." He pointed at each man in turn.

"We're enjoying it for Eliot. I personally can't wait to let him know just how devoted you are to helping him by going through this." Whitmore added as he winked to Vance. "Hey maybe we should take a couple snapshots so we have the proof to show Eliot." He added pulling out his phone.

Hardison turned just as Sophie was trying to darken the circles under his eyes causing the make up to smear across his nose. "Hardison! Stop moving." She snapped at him pulling his chin back to face her.

Hardison let her pull his fac back, but then he turned to look at Nate. "Don't you dare let them take any pictures. I don't need Eliot rubbing it in that I let Sophie paint up my face even if it is to make me the best looking badass zombie ever." He turned back to Sophie. "You are making me the best zombie ever, right?"

Nate couldn't help chuckling at him. "Okay, no pictures guys and Hardison just let Sophie finish up so we can run over the plan again."

Just as Nate finished speaking Parker walked up behind him and holding her own cell phone over Nate' shoulder she managd to snap 3 quick pics. Nate coudn't help the laugh that escaped him.

"Damnit Parker! Nate do something!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma reached through the cab's front passenger window with her money for the fare. "Thank you, Sean. And tell your brother thank you for me too."

"My brother? Why?" Sean, the cab driver asked taking her money and dropping it in his front shirt pockt. "You know my brother?"

Emma smiled at the man. Of all the cabs she had to pick the one whose brother she had recently spoken too. "You could say that." She waved as the man returned her smile and then pulled away from the curb to join the traffic moving through the sleeping city.

_Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she had to walk into mine... _she thought with a laugh.

Yep, she thought still laughing. Of all the cabs, in all of Boston, in all of Massachusetts, she had to pick the one whose brother was Detective Captain Patrick Bonanno.

(AN: This is a gift for Crisdin - I really hadn't plannd on this twist, but enjoyed you questioning the possibility - so this is for you hon!)

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, Hardison now let's go over it one more time." Nate said watching Sophie put the remaining touches to Hardison's make up job. He had to admit, he really did look like the best 'badass zombie' he'd ever seen. Sophie really had the make up just right.

Now all he hoped was if anyone did actually see Hardison they'd be too freaked by his look to do anything but run away. Matthew and Parker were off getting changed into their costumes for the plan. Hardison had already donned the costume of a zombie sailor and they would soon be ready to hit the road.

"I got it Nate. We don't have to keep going over it. You never go over a plan this many times with us when we're working a job."

Nat turned to Hardison. "All right, you're right. I'm just..." He paused at that. He was just what? Nervous? Worried? Scared? Or all of the above?

"You're just making sure nothing goes wrong, I know. But even though I really hate this plan, it's still a good plan." Hardison relented as he looked at Nate. The man was the closest thing he'd ever have to a father and seeing Nate worried was a bit daunting for him. The man wouldn't let anything happen to him if he could help it. "Whitmore and Parker drive to the warehouse, gain access by pretending to a part of the dock patrol's security and are they're there to verify whoever's there has the proper credentials to be there. While they keep as many goons occupied as possible I sneak out of the van and find the electronics and disable them and hoepfully find Eliot's earbud, preferably attached to Eliot. If I can't tap into their signal, which isn't likely, thenI give their system a virus and when they find it they'll be too busy scambling with it to hamper my search for Eliot."

"And..." Nate prompted.

Hardison smiled now. "and if I run into any goons, I pretend it's Night of the Living Dead time and zombie all over them." He answered. "Get them to run scared and then I head back to the van to wait for Parker and Whitmore. And..." He paused her for dramatic effect since this was really the part he truly hated about this plan. "And if they don't run scared, I give you guys the signal with my safe word and hit the deck and pray they don't shoot me in the ass while I wait for Vance to come crashing in to save the day."

Nate smiled at Hardison taking in the guy's face as he spoke. "You will be fine Hardison, I promise." He knew Hardison didn't want to get shot anymore than Nate wanted him to, but he knew Hardison would do whatever it took to get Eliot back and this was just step one. If Eliot wasn't at the warehouse, if they didn't find him there, then at the very least Hardison might be able grab their signal and use their own equipment to tell them where he was.

"You'll be fine Hardison." Parker repeated walking over to stand next to the man as she caught the last of the conversation. She was wearing her shore patrol uniform and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and tucked under the black ballcap with Boston Shore Patrol logo.

"Yeah, I know." Hardison replied softly.

"Hardison?" Parker asked turning his shoulders to force him to look to her. "Do you trust Nate?"

"Of course. Always, it's just..."

Parker made him focus on her face by gripping his shoulders tighter. "Do you trust me?"

Hardison quickly lookd her in the eye. He did not hesitate. "With my life, mamma. With my life." He smiled up at her.

Sophie watched the pair as she stepped closer to Nate. The two shared a look between them. Their kids were growing up right in front of them.

"You get what we need and I promise you they will never get to you. You do what you're good at and find Sparky and I will watch your back."

"Always?" Hardison asked.

Parker quietly bent down and whispered in his ear. "Always Alec."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The knock on the apartment door was surprising at this time of morning and Nate exchanged a look with Vance as the two men moved to the door. Nate peered through the peephole to see a smartly dressed dark haired woman staring back at him.

Nate stepped aside to allow Vance to take a look. "Damn." Vance replied at the sight of the woman. He turned to search for Whitmore who was just coming out of the downstairs bathroom in his Shore Patrol uniform. "We're dead." He said to the man.

"What? Why?" Whitmore asked. He could see that Vance's statement contradicted his deameanor. He was actually trying very hard not to laugh.

"Hey Hardison, get ready for this. Whitmore is about to get his ass handed to him." And with that Vance reached down and grabbed the doorknob and opened the door to the apartment. "Hello there Emma. And how are you this fine morning?" He greeted the woman on the other side.

Emma looked at Vance with daggers in her eyes. "Cram it, Colonel. Where's my butthead of a husband hiding?" She stormed into the apartment dropping her purse and carry on bag just inside the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Evan Chapman was pissed. He was beyond pissed. The damn hospital couldn't find Eliot and it seemed that the good doctor and nurse were also not to be found. It didn't take a genius to realize that the three were in the wind. He turned away from the assistant hospital administrator and punched a hole the wall to his left. The security man standing next to the squat looking man with a bad toupee and an equally bad taste in clothing choices moved towards him, but he was quickly intimidated by Evan's security men.

"Look, Mr. Chapman. I'm sorry for all of this, but we can't explain it. Your brother arrived in the ER where he was deemed stable by nurse Wakefield and scheduled to be moved to the ICU department. While arrangements were being made to move him, he somehow disappeared from the ER along with nurse Wakefield and Dr. Richards. On the security footage we found it looks to be like nurse Wakefield pushed Mr. Chapman's gurney out of the ER and onto an elevator, but we have idea if she went up or down. We do not have cameras inside the elevators. After they got on the elevator they just disappeared; and what's more, we don't see any proof of Dr. Richards entering the hospital with the nurse or paramedic." The man, Mr. Cooke repeated everything he'd already told Evan. "We cannot tell you where they went. Neither responds to the numerous pages we've sent."

Evan looked down at the stupid little man. "Of course you don't know where they are, you'd say that to cover yourself, but I've got news for you. Dr. Richards and nurse Wakefeld are employed by this hospital and were entrusted with a patient in this hospital so they are responsible and by extension so is this hospital and I swear if anything..." he paused as he thought about this. "If anything happens to my brother, this hospital will be in a world of hurt from the downfall." He moved past the man and headed for the nearest exit.

He pulled out his phone as he and his entourage headed for the parking lot. He punched in a number and waiting for the man to pick up. "We've lost Eliot. It's time to put your computer expert to work and find him." He waited for the man's response. "I don't care what you've got going on. This affects you too, so drag his ass out of bed and get him on the security footage from Massachusetts General and every camera he can get his hands on between the hospital and anywhere. I told you earlier what happened and told you something was wrong. Somehow that doctor you found me has helped his stupid little nurse kidnap my brother. And I want them back. All of them. And I'm gonna kill them all myself."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Just exactly what the hell is going on here, Matthew? Umm? Where's my brother and why are you and Michael here in Boston?" Emma Whitmore asked her husband as she zeroed in on him standing back from the group.

Nate took in the way Whitmore stepped back from his approaching wife. He was floored by that; the man who'd been a hardass on the phone yesterday and today was no where to be seen the instant this woman come into the picture. He stood back and watched with Vance as the woman made the man look like a deer caught in the headights.

"Umm, Emma sweetie what are you doing here?" Matthew said as he gave Vance a dirty look. _You just had to open the damned door, didn't you?_ The look said.

"Don't you sweetie me. You are in a whole lot of trouble mister." Emma replied in her smooth husky slightly southern accent. She whirled around to face Nate and Vance when she heard the snickers of laughter coming from behind her. "Michael, if I were you, I'd keep quiet. I have your wife on speed dial and she can be here in a flash too."

Vance quickly stopped laughing as he held his hands up in mock surrender. The last thing he needed was for his Laura to join Emma. "Sorry. Honest. Won't happen again."

"And don't patronize me either! You're in just as much trouble here. And that goes for you too, Mr. Ford. You're on my radar now too. All of you lied to me and th one thing I will not tolerate is being lied to. Especialy when it's about my brother."

Nate quickly stepped back from the whole scene and moved to stand near Sophie. "I'm not going to protect you Nate." Sophie replied at seeing how he actually seemed to moving discreetly behind her on her left. "This is your problem. I told you we shouldn't keep Emma in the dark, even if I did agree we needed Major Whitmore's help."

Nate looked at Sophie like she'd slapped him. "Wait - what?" He said in surprise. "You never said that-"

"Yes I did, you just didn't hear me." Sophie said. She moved to sit down at the dining table. "You men are on your own with this. If Emma is even one ounce like Eliot, there is no way I'm getting in the middle of this." She settled in to watch the entire show. "Go ahead Emma. Speak your mind, hon."

Emma nodded at Sophie. She didn't know the woman, but was willing to bet the farm she was Sophie Devereaux. Eliot's description of her was spot on. "Thank you, Miss Dereaux." She turned to face Nate.

"You Mr. Ford called me and wheedled information out of me about my brother and then you didn't even have the decency to tell me the truth. Eliot's missing isn't he?" She'd had a lot of time to think on this. If Eliot had been hurt, Matthew would have told her that so she could see him, but because they hadn't said that and because they'd bypassed telling her anything at all, she'd deduced that Eliot was unaccounted for. And that was even more worrisome for her then seeing him in a hospital bed. Not knowing if he was alive or dead was much worse. "You didn't have the decency to tell me that he was missing, just let me..." She stopped herself as she choked up suddenly. Everything was getting to her all at once. The lack of sleep, the time shift, the worry; all of it was too much.

Matthew steeped over to put his arms on his wife's shoulders and turn her to face him. He gently pulled her to him as he felt her fear. "Yes he's missing; but we're here to find him, honey."

Emma pulled back to look up at her husband with dry eyes. "You should have told me. He's my brother and I... I needed to know." She pulled back from his grasp then. "You should have told me, Matthew, and you're not off the hook yet. Any of you. I'm still way too pissed off to let any of you off the hook." She said pointing around the room.

She paused when she took in Hardison sitting at his desk of computers dressed like a zombie. Then she took in Parker and Matthew's police uniforms. She turned back to Vance who was dressed all in black clothing like a burglar. She turne to see Nate and Sohie were the only two besides herself dressed like normal people. "Please don''t tell me you're going to rescue my brother from some sort of demented masquerade party?"


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

_So They Dug Your Grave_

_And The Masquerade _

_Will Come Calling Out_

_At The Mess You Made_

Roughly about 4:15 AM Boston Time

Katharine turned the big ambulance onto the well worn path she knew by heart. It was pitch black outside even with her high beams on, but she knew how to find this cabin, especially in the dark. She'd done it a number of times over the years. Too many times, she thought; but she'd never made the trip in an ambulance before.

She heaved a huge sigh of relief when she saw Sam and Bella's SUV parked out front and the light coming through the only front window of the cabin. Her friends were standing on the front porch waiting for her. Thank God, because she would need their help getting the equipment and Eliot unloaded.

She waved to the couple as she pulled to a stop right in front and cut the engine. She sighed again, this time with apprehension as she turned to look over her right shoulder in the back of the bus to the man who was her patient. If she'd thought he'd been pissed before, she knew he was gonna full on blow a gasket when he woke up this time and realized she'd done it to him again. She'd dropped the pills in his water bottle when she'd moved behind him to adjust his bed to ease his breathing; right after he'd stopped her from giving him the pain medication via his IV.

She couldn't help grinning though at the fact that his color was looking much better and his being back on the machine that was draining the blood from his lung was doing it's job perfectly. His breathing sounded much better and his heart rate was staying steady. If she could just keep the damn man calm and off his feet for at least two more days, he might just live through this.

Katharine thanked God again that the trip via the ambulance had been smooth and that Eliot had slept the entire time. She moved from her seat to crawl back to him and work on disconnecting the machines just until she could get him settled inside. The air was a bit on the chilly side this early in the morning so she pulled another blanket from an overhead bin and draped it over the one already covering him.

The cabin had belonged to one of the women she'd helped in the past and was now only used as a way station for the soul purpose of ferrying abused women through her own private underground railroad system. She never let them stay more than a day or two; just until she could get them settled under new identities in new towns. Sam and Bella lived thirty miles north of the cabin and they made sure it was always stocked for her. She never knew when she might be called on to move someone quickly, so it was always prepared.

The cabin had electricity, but she always instructed her guests to not use it too much just in case. Electricity bills left a paper trail and spikes in usage could give them away. If someone was able to follow the spikes, then they'd find the cabin and whoever was staying there at the time; she needed it be a safe place for them to hide, to know they were going to be okay.

But with Eliot, she knew she'd have to use the electricity to run the pleurovac machine as well as all the other devices she'd need for his care. The generator wouldn't be able to keep the equipment running continuously. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use it for more than two or three days and she'd have to avoid using anything other than the machines.

Sam opened the back of the bus and took in Katharine and her patient. Bella walked up behind him with a large flashlight to help them see. The two looked at Eliot then they looked at each other.

"Ummm, Kat this isn't your typical stray this time." Sam said as he stepped up into the ambulance to help her move the machine she was pushing towards him.

"I need this machine out first. It needs set up and ready to go as soon as we get him inside." She instructed him as she moved to help him lift the machine down out of the ambulance. "And yeah, I know he's not the normal stray, but trust me. He needed help and I'm a sucker for all strays, especially such a good looking one." She smiled while she reached over to hug first Sam then Bella after they'd set the machine inside the only bedroom in the cabin.

"Well, I gotta say, he is a good looking stray." Bella said from behind Sam as they headed back to the ambulance. When her husband turned to look at her, she asked innocently, "what? He's good looking. Just cause I'm married to you don't mean I can't appreciate a fine looking man." She smiled at him as he just continued to stare at her. "Oh don't be a grouch. I may look, just like you do, but I only look. I'm not going to let a good thing like you go, honey."

She patted him on his butt as he reached down and gave her a kiss on her lips. Katharine smiled at the two of them. Almost 15 years and the two were still like love sick teens. She loved seeing them so happy.

"Glad to hear that, now let's get a move on. I don't want Eliot off that machine too much longer." She said climbing back inside the ambulance to unlock the gurney and pack Eliot's IVs under his shoulders. She handed two go bags out the door to Sam then she reached for an empty bag and began scooping up everything that was stocked in the many drawers and cabinets.

When Eliot made a sudden jerking motion with his hands, Bella watched as Katharine instantly dropped the bag and was quickly at his side using her hand to touch him on his chest and muttering words of comfort that she couldn't quite make out. She watched in amazement as the man instantly seemed to calm down and she thought he even looked like he was glad Kat was there.

She watched as Katharine bent down and gently kissed him on the forehead then she brushed some of the long strands of his hair from his face. Damn, she thought totally taken aback at the picture playing out in front of her eyes. I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't seeing it, she thought. She turned to shush Sam as he returned from stowing the bags inside the cabin. She quietly pointed to him to just keep quiet and watch.

And Sam did watch. He took in the scene of the woman he'd known for the last fifteen years. He'd watched her struggle through a bad marriage while she helped to get Bella out of her bad marriage. He'd watched her put her own pain aside to help others and he watched now as she calmed this man.

He'd helped her when she'd finally gotten the strength to leave her husband and he and Bella had watched over her when she'd lost her baby girl because of that man. They'd watched this woman who was as important to them as any family member could ever be and in that whole time they'd never seen her like she was right now with this man.

He turned to his wife. "Damn..." he whispered.

Bella just nodded in agreement. "Looks like our girl might actually have found someone. I am blown away."

"Yeah. I just hope he's a good man." He looked at the man a little more closely while he took in the way Katharine was fussing over him. "He looks like he's seen a lot in the way of life." Sam didn't know if that was good or bad, but something about the man made him wonder if he really was a good man. Something was there that gave him pause.

Bella watched Sam and knew what he was thinking. "He's a good man, Sam."

Sam turned to look down at her again. "How can you know that?"

Bella looked at the man laying on the gurney. "Because Katharine wants to help him and she knows good from bad. When a woman's been through what we've been through, you learn to read men and I can tell you that no matter what, that man is a good man because Katharine likes him."

"I hope you're right... I really hope you're right."

Bella Thompson never took her eyes off the couple in the back of the ambulance. She smiled as she felt the tears building up behind her eyes. She loved seeing Kat like this. "I'm right." She said taking her husband's hand in hers. "Just like I was right about you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma was sitting in the back of the black van that Harison called Lucille. Nate had driven the van with Vance riding shotgun while she and Sophie rode in the back watching over Hardison's equipment and they were now parked down the block from the dockyard not far from the warehouse Hardison had narrowed down to where the earbud signal was coming from.

Hardison had leapt for joy when he found out that Emma actually know how to handle a computer and had caught on quickly to most of his programs. She didn't care much for the earbud, but she had to admit it was easy to wear. She didn't like hearing voices in her head anymore than she figured Eliot did, but if he could get used to it, then so could she.

She'd changed from her slacks and silk top to dark jeans and a soft black baby tee she'd packed. She also wore dark boots that Sophie had loved the minute Emma had pulled them from her carry on bag. She'd discovered that Sophie loved shoes too, and they made plans to go shopping when this was over.

Nate and Matthew had stood back in awe at how Sophie had taken Emma in hand and drawn her over to the dining table after her arrival; she'd explained everything to her. She left nothing out and for that Emma had thanked her while at the same time giving Matthew and Nate as well as Vance the look; the one all mothers perfected as communication that somone was in big trouble.

While she was afraid for her brother after hearing the story, at least now she knew exactly what was going on and she was going to help find him. Then she was going to get him, Matthew and Vance in one place and get to the bottom of all this dark shit. She was tired of it and it stopped now.

"Hardison? How you holding up?" Nate asked keeping an eye on the security camera's image of the white panel van they'd borrowed as it passed by the guard station without any trouble. Hardison had only had time to secure two of the cameras before he, Matthew and Parker had gone in, but Emma had managed to hack into three more around the warehouse and they had a pretty good view of the entire area outside the building.

"Oh, I'm just peachy. I'm just loving this... not." Came Hardison's sarcastic reply. "Aren't we there yet? We passed through the main gate like an hour ago, man."

Nate smiled at the young man's words. "It just feels like an hour ago. It's only been three minutes, but you should be pulling up to the warehouse soon. Emma's got the cameras working for us all around the building, but we won't know what's going on inside until you get in and we can see through your button cam."

Sophie watched as Emma worked on the keyboard with almost the same speed Hardison used. "I am impressed Emma. Where did you learn to do this?"

Emma replied without thinking. " From Ellie."

Vance moved from the side of the van where he was quietly opening the door and getting out to prepare to be in position to help the others if he was needed. He was going to have to hurry to get through to the back side of the dock behind the building, but he had to know what Emma meant. "Ellie?" He asked taking in both Nate and Sophie's blank looks. "Who's Ellie?"

Emma paused as she realized what she'd just said. Eliot would kill her if he found out, but she slowly smiled as she remembered that he was due a little payback for this entire escapade they were on. She turned to face the man standing outside the van pulling a dark cap over his head.

"Eliot is Ellie. Childhood nickname I gave him and he will kill me if he knows I've given up that little tidbit to any of you." She replied with a small laugh. "But he'll have to live through this to do it, so I look forward to a little payback war." She watched as Vance smiled at that.

"Ellie, huh? Sounds like something to hang onto for the right time." He reached back inside the van for the gun and holster he'd brought. He already had his best knife stapped to his ankle and another inside his boot, but he didn't know what he'd face going in there so he strapped the gun to his belt and closed the velcro catches around his leg. "Okay, Matt Im heading around the backside now. You'll see me when you need me." And with a wave he turned and moved to blend in with the dark shadows while he made his way across the road and around the fence line towards the back side of the warehouse.

Sophie turned to Emma. "You said Eliot taught you to use a computer?" She urged, guiding the conversation back to the topic that interested her the most right now. The man had never let on he knew a keyboard from a mouse.

Emma smiled again as she thought about her answer. "Hardison, what you are about to hear does not get repeated to Eliot you understand?" She waited for the young hacker to reply.

"Why? Are you saying my bro knows how to use a computer?" He thought back to the letter he'd read and how Eliot had messed up one of his favorite episodes of Doctor Who and he realized the man had to know something cause Hardison's files were all password protected. "That man knows and he's been acting like he don't? If I live through this I'm gonna kill him!"

Nate tried hard not to laugh at that as he listened to the conversation. It was actually nice to see Emma taking Hardison's mind off being in the body bag in the back of a van in the dark of night dressed like a zombie.

"Well, he knows enough. How do you guys think he's survived as long as he has?" She looked at the two sitting next to her. "You think he just reads a book to find out about the things he's sent to retrieve? How would he get in and out of places without knowing every little detail?"

"Sparky has a hidden talent!" Parker said. "Cool!"

"It ain't cool, mamma!" Hardison thought about the fact that whenever he was giving the team the rundown on their jobs via his video presentations; he realized that Eliot was usually the only one who didn't ask too many questions. He always looked bored, or pissed, but now Hardison knew he wasn't. He was taking it all in. His bro was actually paying attention. He couldn't help the slow smile that come over his face at that instant of realization. "Damn, my bro _is _cool!"

"Hey Em, tell them what else Eliot is good at." Matthew's voice came in loud and clear now as he joined in the conversation.

Emma laughed. Oh Eliot was so gonna kill her, but he'd have to catch her first. "Well, you know he can cook right?"

"Oh God, yes!" Sophie said delighted at the mention of food. "Eliot's food is divine!"

"Yeah, he makes the best chocolate chip pancakes even though he tells me that too much sugar is bad for me. But he still makes them when he knows I want them!" Parker added with glee. "What else can Sparky do?"

Emma had learned quickly that Parker's favorite nickname for her brother was Sparky and she kind of liked that. And she liked Parker. She knew why Eliot felt he needed to protect her. She knew now why Eliot felt he had to protect all of them. They had all become his family too. He cared too much sometimes she thought to herself.

"Well, he can sing and play the guitar..."

"Got that. He was our fiddle once!" Parker smiled at the memory. "He was a really good fiddle too."

Emma looked at Nate. "Fiddle?" She mouthed.

Nate laughed and said, "I'll tell you about it later."

Emma nodded and went back to the keyboard. "Well, Eliot likes to write. Or he did while growing up." She added, moving her monitor so she could pull the main camera back into view as the white van pulled up in front of the warehouse they wanted.

"What do mean by writing?" Sophie asked the other woman.

"You know, write. He's very smart. His IQ is off the charts and he sometimes writes about his passions."

"Like what?" Nate asked this time. He had a hard time picturing Eliot sitting and writing. But then he remembered the letters Eliot had written for them. "You mean like letters?"

Emma looked up at Nate. She remembered the two letters Matthew had slipped into her hands when she was changing. One for herself and one for her father. She'd opened hers and scanned it but she hadn't had time to read all of it. She nodded at Nate's question. "Yeah, sometimes. But mostly he writes just for himself; like a journal. He loves architecture. He writes so he writes about them. He sees buildings and things as works of art. He loves finely crafted furniture and things, so he researches some of the greats. And it's not just buildings; he loves bridges and monuments and things of that nature. He loves that stuff because he says they're not just art, they're also useful. He always says a painting is great, but a bridge has a real purpose and yet it can still be made beautifully." She hesitated talking about Eliot's passions suddenly, but she loved her brother and she wanted these people, his second family, to see the man he was deep down hidden under that rough facade of his. "Ellie never got to go to college. He sent me, but he never got that kind of life." She added softly.

Sophi looked at Nate over the top of Emma's head. "He's a good man for doing that." Nate replied. "Why did he feel he had to do that? Skip college I mean?" He asked carefully.

Emma looked up from the monitors to Nate. "I can't tell you the reasons for that Nate. That's Eliot's business and it's much more personal than knowing a nickname or his talents." She paused as she looked for the right way to say this. "Let's just say Eliot had a harder life than I did when our mother passed away. His was different than mine; him being the only son. He's made the choices he has made for his own reaons. I may not agree with them, but that's part of life, his life; and well, those things I just can't talk about."

Nate slowly nodded. "Understood." He tuned to look at the monitor as two men met Matthew and Parker when they exited the van. "Almost showtime Hardison so wait for my signal. Parker, keep the men facing away from the van." He watched as both Parker and Whitmore moved towards the building causing the two men to have no choice but to follow them. "Okay Hardison, you're clear. Keep talking so I know where you are until we get picture inside."

"And Hardison, remember what I told you. It's all about projecton. You're not playing the part of a zombie; you _are _a zombie, so live it, be a zombie." Sophie added while watching as Hardison exited the back of the van almost invisible in the eaarly morning darkness with his dark naval uniform, but she could just make out the glow of his pale face in an overhead lamp. "That's it Hardison, shuffle along..." She stopped when she noticed Nate and Emma were looking at her. "What? If he's going to be a zombie then he needs to be a zombie. It's not as easy as you think it would be to act like a zombie."

Emma opened her mouth to say something, but for the life of her she didn't know what to say to that. Nate cleared his throat and Emma could hear both Vance and Whitmore chuckling in her ear.

"Sophie, we so need to talk when this is all over. Something tells me I've been missing out on a lot of things with this team." Emma replied taking in the whole atmosphere the woman had about her suddenly.

"Oh Emma, sweetie, you have no idea what we've stepped into here." Matthew whispered through the earbud as he and Parker walked to the office just outside the main warehouse. "Eliot has a distinctive team here. Very distinctive."

And Emma could only stare as Nate full on broke out in laughter. Slowly followed by Sophie herself. Then came Hardison's laughter through the earbud. Emma didn't know if she was supposed to laugh or not about this whole thing.

"Hey, Emma - how did Eliot learn to be a fiddle anyway? I wish I could be a fiddle. Nate maybe when we get Sparky back, he'll teach us to all be fiddles. Yeah, cause that'd be fun. Like jumping of the Golden Gate bridge was fun!"

"Mamma you're scaring El's sister." Hardison replied.

"Umm, no they're not scaring her." Vance said as he ducked under the fence where he'd just carefully pulled the chainlink away from the ground. "She's like Eliot only deadlier. She's probably planning on having your whole team committed."

Emma laughed at Vance while she worked with the picture quality of Hardison's button cam. "You're right, Colonel. I'm not scared. Just trying to figure out just how crazy they all really are." She looked up at Sophie then at Nate with a smile. "But right now, crazy is all we got and I'm okay with that. If teaching Parker to be a...a fiddle is something she wants Eliot to do, then more power to him. Whatever works. As long as being a fiddle isn't a bad thing."

"It's not, Em. It's not." Matthew whispered while moving through the office to give the two men standing just outside the room the impression that he and Parker were real patrol officers and needed access to the building's records. "It's a good thing, trust me."

"Trust is something I got lots of right now." She answered. As she watched Hardison moving through the warehouse heading to another office at the back of the building just under a set of stairs, she noticed something odd on the outer edge of his camera's field of vision. "Hey, Hardison. Turn just a bit to your right. There's something there."

Nate moved closer as he noticed too what had caught Emma's eyes. As Hardison moved from behind several tall boxes and looked to his right, the three in the van along with Hardison gasped at what they saw.

"What?" Vance whispered as he worked on the door at the top of the outside stairs to the warehouse. He'd made it across the yard to the building in record time and was just waiting for the signal if he needed to bust in. He didn't have to bypass the camera here, as it was one that Emma had already captured for their use. "What is it?"

Both Whitmore and Parker stopped searching file cabinets and the desk in the office as they waiting to be told what was inside the building. Something was wrong.

"What is it Em?" Matthew asked when no one spoke for several moments. "What do you see?"

Parker moved out of the office and brushed past the two men headed for the main building. The two men followed quickly behind her trying to stop her. Matthew came up behind the two and raised his stun gun that had been strapped to his left leg and placed the business end against the back of first one then quickly the other one. As the men fell he stepped around them to hurry up and catch Parker.

"Emma? Nate? What the hell do you see?" Vance asked again as he finally got the door opened and rushed inside to stop dead in his tracks at the sight below him.

Parker and Whitmore quickly pulled open the main entrance door and hurried inside. They both came up short as they too finally saw what all of the others had seen.

There on the right side of the building stood what could only be described as a something out of a horror movie. Strapped to what looked like a large metal X was the body of a man. At least they thought it was a man. There was so much blood and it was obvious that the man was dead by the way his head hung.

Standing in front of the dead man taking pictures was a small man in a black suit. The man didn't seem to notice the intruders as he worked on documenting the dead man from every angle.

"Is... is that Eliot?" Parker's voice rang out causing the man in the suit to turn quickly towards her voice. "Did you kill Sparky?!"

Parker saw red as she looked from the dead man to the other man. Then she did something no one expected from Parker. She walked up to the man and snatched his camera from him and used it to smack the man across the face. When the man went down she threw the camera at him and reached for the tazer attached to her belt.

"No, Parker!" Hardison yelled as he came running over to her. "Don't!"

The man on the ground looked between Parker and Hardison and he looked terrified. "What...what the hell are you?" He pointed at Hardison. "Who the hell... what... the... hell?"

Matthew reached Parker before she could stun the man. He grabbed her hand holding the tazer but he wasn't able to control the kick she launched at the man as her booted foot connected with the man's groin. The man howled in pain and curled up on the floor.

"Get... away from me! You bitch!" The man screamed at them.

That was when Hardison lost his composure and he bent down to grab the man by his suit front. "Nobody calls mamma a bitch, you ass! No one." And Hardison hit the man square in the face with a punch that would have made Eliot proud. The man fell back unconscious and Whitmore slowly released his hold on Parker at seeing Hardison in all his zombie glory move like lightning.

"Well, that was... something..." Emma quietly whispered while Nate and Sophie just stared at the screen. "Really... wait a minute." She moved in closer to the screen. "Hardison focus in on the dead man."

Hardison slowly stood up and turned to look at the man strapped to the X. "Do I have to look? He's... not exactly pretty to look at."

Whitmore moved away from Parker and walked over to the man. "No he's not pretty, but you guys might want to grab some pictures of your own. I know this guy and while he's not Eliot, he was a very good friend." He reached out and lifted the man's bloody face to show the others what he'd seen. "From a distance and bloodied like he is, one might think he was Eliot. He's the same height and build."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

_Don't Wanna Let You Down_

_But I Am Hell Bound_

_Though This Is All For You_

_Don't Wanna Hide The Truth_

Roughly about 5:00 AM

"How do you know who that is? And how is he a friend of Eliot's?" Emma asked her husband.

Matthew didn't answer her. Instead he turned to face Vance who had joined them on the main floor just in front of the dead man and directed his question to him. "What do you think?"

The Colonel knew instantly who Matthew was refering too. "Yeah, looks like." He moved closer to check out the scar the man had on his face almost in the identical spot Eliot had one; just over the left side of his upper lip. "They both got the same scar in the same way. But it doesn't make sense. He's supposed to be out of the business. He got married. Eliot was best man at his wedding. Why is he here?"

"Guys I would really love to know what you're talking about in there. Who is this guy and what's gong on?" Nate asked as he watched the two military men discussing the dead man.

Vance pulled his favorite knife from his ankle strap and motioned for Matthew to catch the man as he cut through the bindings of one arm. He was more or less spread eagle on this structure, but once he cut him lose gravity would take over.

"His name is Brady. Joshua Brady. And he served under Eliot." Vance moved to cut through the next binding of the man's other arm while Matthew and now Hardison helped to catch him.

"Parker?" Matthew called to the young thief. "Why don't you go check on the two goons we left outside. Make sure they don't get up and leave this party." He wanted to get her away from the dead man as she just couldn't seem to stop staring at him.

"Go on mamma. You got my permission to taze 'em again if needed." Hardison said picking up on what Matthew was trying to do.

At first Parker was going to ignore the Matthew's instructions, but when Hardison said she could taze them, she smiled and turned to jog out the main door.

"But not too much! Mamma! You hear me?!"

Nate smirked a little at that. "Parker, use the zip ties and move them to the office. Then come back here to the van. I'm going to need you to move Lucille inside. Something tells me we'll need to stay close now."

"Yeah, might be a good idea." Vance said as he helped Matthew and Hardison lay the man out on the floor. He looked at Matthew. "I don't know why Brady's here, but he's still a soldier and we don't leave him. I've had too much grief over the years with that, so we take him and we see to it he gets back home."

Matthew nodded his head in agreement. "Hardison, go on and find the computers and do whatever it is you need to do." Hardison nodded and pulled his button camera off to hand it to Vance who handed it to Matthew.

Matthew attached it to his shirt uniform and he focused in on Hardison as he left them. Matthew then turned his attention to the unconscious man.

Vance followed his line of thought. "Nate, when you get here, we're gonna need someone to take Brady out of here. I'll contact someone who will come collect him, just get him back to the bar. Once Hardison's done with his job, you get your team out and safe. Even you, Emma." He added when he saw Matthew's face.

"All right, but what are you two going to do?" Nate asked quietly as he watched Parker finishing up with the two goon guards. He couldn't help a grin as he watched her give each man a dose of her love for the tazer even though they were still out. It was kind of comical to see the unconscious men flop around. They'd probably wake up to many unexplained bruises.

"Don't even try, Nate. National security trumps curiosity. Trust me when I tell you military secrets are even tighter when they're black op military secrets and something tells me this falls under that category." Emma stated matter-of-fact. "Besides, Brady was military, so they're just doing their job."

"Which is what exactly?" Sophie asked as she watched the men place a blanket they'd found over the dead man. She knew as well as Nate, the camera man was still a big question mark here.

"We make sure Brady gets home and we make sure Eliot gets home." Matthew said as he focused on the unconscious man. "And we do what we're trained to do to accomplish those tasks."

Nate took in the fact the two men were sharing a lot of looks between them and the man still out on the floor. He wished he didn't feel so uneasy about this, because he knew in his heart that they'd have to interrogate this man on what he knew about Eliot. He knew it was necessary, but he didn't have to like it.

They needed something to lead them to Eliot and he really hoped Hardison could find something out on the securty system. And he kind of regretted the fact that he didn't get to complete his plan for Hardison. "Crap, Vance I forgot about the other monsters. Hardison can you cancel them?"

Hardison paused over the keyboard he was working on. "Uhh, Nate. I think you need Emma to focus camera two on the front gate." He spoke with a bit of surprise. "They're early."

Emma quickly moved camera two into full screen view just in time to see what looked to be at lease fifty or more zombies, Frankensteins and a mish mash of every monster known to Hollywood; and they were pushing through the main gate while the lone security guard struggled to control the mob. "Your monster flash mob is really early."

Sophie looked at the first group which consisted of some of the stars of her current play, _Tangled Web._ They'd agreed to bring everyone they knew and it looked like they had.

"Damn!" Emma remarked. They were moving slowly, but they were moving.

"Parker! I need you to lead the mob away from the warehouse. Take them over to the dockside." Nate yelled when she pulled open the back door of the van to get in.

"What? I don't know how to be dead, Nate!" She yelled.

It's easy Parker. I'll help you, Nate you follow us in Lucille." Sophie grabbed a bag under her seat and got out of the van to turn back and rummage through the it. "Okay, Parker. Muss up your hair like you have bed head." She instructed while pulling out some off-white loose face powder. She quickly grabbed a make up brush and ran the powder over Parker's face and then her own.

While she mussed up her own hair, she instructed Parker to tear her uniform a bit here and there and handed her a tube of red lipstick. "Smear this on your face a bit and then all you have to do is follow my lead." She smeared some of the lipstick to her lips to make her look more dramatic. "Now let's go!" She grabbed Parker's hand and pulled her across the road to head for the main gate.

Just as they disappeared in the dark, Nate and Emma heard her tell Parker that she could taze any of the monsters she wanted. The more they got out of the way, the better. Nate smiled as he moved to the driver's seat and put the van in gear and drove towards the warehouse.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Quinn tried his best to stay focused as he concentrated on reading the file that Vance had sent him earlier on what Eliot's hacker friend, Hardison had put together so far. He was just so tired; he'd been up two days and this time change was taking it's toll.

He stifled a yawn as he read through the last paragraph again. The man had quite a lot of information on Evan Chapman, formerly Evan Taylor Spencer. He didn't understand what all the twists were to this whole thing, but he tried.

And he still had yet to fill them in on Kat. He was holding off until he arrived there, whih would be in about two more hours. They were still over the Atlantic and international waters, but soon they'd hit American airspace, then after landing he'd be in Boston within 30 minutes.

He'd gotten a text from Kat's friend Sam who had confirmed Kat and Eliot's arrival just now, so he heaved a deep sigh of relief at that. For now they were safe. He was just glad he'd guessed the right destination.

With them now safe, his attention wanted to focus more on getting to Evan and removing him as a danger. He didn't know who all was working for Evan, but he'd do what he had to do.

He punched in Vance's number and waited for the call to connect.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Vance reached in his pants pocket for his cell when it rang. He looked at Matthew who was standing over the man tied to a chair in the center of the room. The man they'd learned was named Liam Chapman, brother to Moreau's head of security, or had been before he'd met his death from Eliot's hands, or so they'd just learned.

Matthew held the slim knife lightly in his right hand as he focused on Liam Chapman. He hadn't really had to torture the man. He seemed ready to tell them anything they wanted to know. And the man had given them a wild story of what was going on with their dead fellow soldier, Joshua Brady.

Both Matthew and Vance were hesitant to believe his story, but after interrogating the man, they tended to believe he was telling the truth. He was just here as a family duty to take down Eliot for killing his brother Sean. And while he had no love lost for Eliot, he had even less for Evan. He thought the man was crazy. Evan had found Brady as well as most of Eliot's old military team and contacts during the planning of this whole thing.

Liam was supposed to keep Brady here at the warehouse until Evan needed him. They knew he resembled Eliot from a distance and they had planned on using him for pictures in case they needed something to prove Eliot was dead after the kidnapping.

They also learned that Evan had set the fire to burn Eliot's house, but the bomb was not a part of their plan. He didn't know who had done that and Evan was worried about that as well. And they didn't know anything about the remains found in the garage. In fact Liam had said he didn't know until they'd just told him about that.

Since they didn't need Brady anymore, Evan had ordered him killed. Liam said he didn't do the killing himself, but both Vance and Matthew were still skeptical. When asked about the pictures he was taking anyway, he'd explained that he planned to leave and head back to his home in Ireland and he felt the pictures woul prove to his family that he'd satisfied his family's vendetta. He was going to pass off Brady's dead body as Eliot's for them.

Vance turned his back on Matthew while he answered his phone. "Yeah, Quinn. Almost here?"

"Almost, Colonel. Just letting you know that my girl got Eliot out of the house and they are stowed somewhere safe for now."

"Where is he?" Vance growled into the phone.

Quinn frowned at the question. "I told you I'm not telling you that over the phone. I don't want to take any chances and I thought you'd of all people would understand that."

"Yeah I get it." Vance sighed with exhaustion. "It's just this has been such a roller coaster ride since we got here. Just when we get a break, somthing else happens to throw us for a loop." He explained the latest find at the warehouse. "Nate and the others are back at the bar, and me and Whitmore will be heading back there soon. We're just...tying up loose ends here." He turned to Whitmore and grimly nodded his head. "Call me when you land." He ended the call and moved out of sight while Whitmore turned back to face Liam.

"No! What are you doing?!" Liam shouted in fear when Whitmore raised the blade over him. He never took his eyes off the blade glinting in the dim light.

Whitmore paused as the man turned his eyes back to him finally. Then Liam slowly closed his eyes and waited. If he was going to die, then so be it.

It seemed an eternity, but when nothing happened he carefully opened one eye. No one was there. He quickly opened the other to see that he was alone in the room. He was still tied to the chair, but he could see the blade resting on a nearby tabletop holding a single piece of paper in place. He struggled to scoot the chair closer to the table. Once there he paused as he read the two word note.

Never return_._ He looked around the warehouse and realized that no matter what, he wasn't. He was going home and stay there...and he wasn't setting foot in America ever again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Evan was going to find Dr. Richards and kill him. Nothing was going to get in his way. The man had double crossed him and now he along with Eliot were in the wind. And to make matters worse, no one was answering their phones at the warehouse.

He turned in the passenger seat to his driver, James. "Get to the warehouse. Something's wrong there."

"Yes, Sir."

Evan keyed a different phone number in his cell. One he knew by heart, but had never used. He'd been told that he would only get one favor, and he'd better use it wisely. He thought this qualified.

"Hell, Mr. Chapman. I trust this isn't a social call." Came the female voice in it's slighlty accented, but soft seductive tone. "What can I do for you?"

"Eliot Spencer. I want him dead." He replied quickly.

The woman on the other end thought for a moment. "This is your favor? You are calling it in?"

"Yes." He ground out. He hated losing this ace in the hole, but if it got Eliot, then it'd be worth it. "This is what I want."

"Very well, Mr. Chapman." Mikel Dayan replied never altering her tone. "Consider Eliot Spencer taken care of. Our paths will never cross again."

And for the first time since Evan had secured Eliot in his home after grabbing him, he smiled. Finally, he thought. He might not get the satisfaction of pulling the trigger himself, but Eliot would still know who ended him and that was what it was all about.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

_No Matter What We Breed_

_We Still Are Made Of Greed_

_This Is My Kingdom Come_

_This Is My Kingdom Come_

Roughly 8:00 AM in Boston

Roughly 7:00 AM in New Orleans

Mikel slowly placed the cell phone that hadn't rang in four years down on the table, That was, it hadn't until now. She didn't regret owing Evan Chapman a favor. That's what happened in this business, but she was not looking forward to performing this particular favor.

She liked Eliot Spencer. She really did. After meeting the man two years ago, she'd come to respect him and knew he lived up to his reputation. He had once been in the same business she was still deeply rooted in; she even realized that she may have respected him for his being able to move out of this busness, but a promise was a promise.

She didn't know what it was that Evan Chapman had done to deserve being owed a favor, but she realized she really didn't want to know. If her former commander felt he deserved it, then he did. Commander Alam Dayan had been her brother as well as her commander and it was for him she would follow through on this favor.

Her brother had been gone for close to three years now, and as such she was now responsible for honoring his promises. She didn't like Evan Chapman, and while she did like Eliot Spencer, it was still her family obligation to fulfill her brother's word.

She didn't really care one way or another what had to be done, she would do it. For Alam. She picked up the phone and removed any information on it and then placed it back on the table next to her empty breakfast plate. She wouldn't need to keep this phone any longer; it had served it's purpose. She placed the money for her meal on top of it and quietly got up and walked away from the small outside cafe. She would need to catch a plane, so she headed off on foot back to her small apartment to pack.

She wouldn't be returning to this city again. At least not to stay for any extended amount of time. That was one of the rules in her world; you never stayed in one place too long. She would have to meet her contact in Boston to get whatever information she would need on Eliot. She had kept Nate Ford and his team on her radar since the job she'd done there. It was important to know where they were and what they were doing so she didn't run into Spencer again.

She turned right at the corner and quietly slipped into the doorway of a non-descript building and took the stairs to the third floor. She would be in and out in less than 30 minutes after packing and making flight arrangements; and while she'd grown to love the city of New Orleans, she knew it was time to move on.

She unlocked the door to the small, but comfortable apartment and moved quietly inside where she pulled out another cell she had hidden in her jacket lining. She may have to perform this favor, but that didn't mean she couldn't give Eliot a warning. She smiled as she punched in the number she'd memorized from two years ago.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma sat next to Hardison at his computers while they both went through the files Hardison had downloaded from the warehouse. There wasn't much on it, nothing that mentioned Eliot at all.

"This is so frustrating." She replied as she ran her hands over her knees. "Why couldn't they just have a file that says, 'Here's where I took Eliot - go get him'?" She didn't care if she sounded whiny, she needed to do something and while it had been fun watching the monster mob bring the real shore patrol officers to the brink of confusion, it was over now and they were back at Nate's loft over the bar. "I don't care what time it is, I need a damn drink."

She got up and went over to sit next to Nate who had a cup of coffee and a bottle of Irish Whiskey at his elbow. He smiled at her as he pushed his fresh cup over to her and got up to get himself another.

Emma smiled her thanks as she accepted the cup and watched as Sophie frowned slightly at the gesture. Sophie looked from Nate to Emma and then she smiled at her. Emma thought maybe she'd done something wrong at first, but she soon realized it wasn't about her. It was about Nate.

"So Sophie, tell me about Eliot. Tell me what he does here. He doesn't talk much to me about all of you." This wasn't entirely true. Eliot had told her a lot about his team. Enough that Emma knew he felt more at home here with them than he ever had with his own family. At first she'd been jealous that others were getting to spend time with her brother when she couldn't, but she soon learned that whatever they felt for each other, Eliot and this team, she knew it was real and it was good for him.

They were good for him; so she'd refrained from saying anything negative to him where they were concerned. Her brother deserved a family, a real one.

Sophie watched Emma as she spoke. "Well, Eliot is... he's our... well... he's..." For the life of her, she didn't know how to answer. How do you explain to Eliot's sister that Eliot was more than just their hitter? She didn't want to offend Eliot's only real family by telling her that they were also a family.

Emma knew what was going through Sophie's head and she didn't want to make things hard for her. "I understand Sophie. Eliot may be my brother, but I also have my husband and my son. So it's only fair that Eliot have others too. As I said before, we grew up differently. We may have lived in the same house, but we led different lives." She looked at the coffee in the cup in her hands.

She hated thinking about those times, especially for Eliot. She'd survived basically because she didn't know what else to do. But Eliot was always the emotional one; the one who took everything to heart. She didn't know if these people would be able to understand that or not. She didn't know for sure, but she did know that Eliot had chosen to stay here, to help them to be a part of not just a team, but a second family so she didn't want to jeopardize that for him.

Parker walked over to the table and sat down with a big bowl of dry cereal. "Whatcha talking about?" She asked between mouthfuls of the cereal.

Emma had to laugh at the girl. She was priceless. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you already know from Eliot that sugary cereals will rot your teeth."

Parker smiled. "Yep, Sparky tells me that every day." She scooped up another bite and shoved it in her mouth. "But... for some odd reason, there's always a big box of my favorite cereal in the cabinet; and Eliot's the only one who does the food shopping." She said as she swallowed. "Either he likes me or the cereal fairy does!"

Nate laughed. "Something like that. The cereal fairy is probably related to the tooth fairy and they're in co-hoots."

Sophie smiled at Nate and reached out a hand to pat his. Emma watched the display of affection without comment. She finished the coffee and silently got up from the table.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower if I can get the key to Eliot's loft, Nate?" She asked as she placed her cup in the sink.

"Of course." The man got up and pulled open a kitchen drawer and reached in past the silverware to pull out a set of keys. "I keep the keys to Eliot and Hardison's apartments in here. I don't have a key for Parker's, she never locks the door since she never uses the door. And Sophie has her own place when she isn't staying here."

Emma smiled at him. She'd had a crash course in how Parker entered a room when they'd gotten back to the bar and noticed that Parker hadn't followed them upstairs. When she'd asked about it, Hardison just grinned and Nate had said that Parker had her own entrance.

When they'd arrived at the apartment and entered, there was Parker sitting on the window ledge unhooking her gear from her belt. She'd realized that Eliot hadn't exaggerated when he said Parker loved climbing buildings.

"Thanks. When Matthew and Vance get back, please call me. I don't want to miss anything." She waved at the others and grabbed her purse and bag and walked out the door to the apartment just across the hall.

Nate had told her back in Lucille that Hardison had bought the building over the bar and that he, Parker and Eliot had apartments here. There were the only ones on this floor, the top floor.

She unlocked the door and stepped inside to see a well furnished room. She looked around and she recognized some of the furniture. The kitchen table and chairs, she thought. She remembered those from her home growing up. Her father had put them in a yard sale two or three years ago. She'd thought they'd been lost forever. Yet here they was, in this apartment. Eliot's apartment.

He'd made each piece by hand when he was eleven. It had taken him over almost a year, but he'd been so proud of it. Then their mother had died, and their father had moved the set to the garage when Eliot had left home and that's where they'd stayed until the yard sale. She didn't know how Eliot had done it, but he'd bought the set.

She felt a tear fall from her eye onto the surface as she reached out to gently stroke the table top. Damn it, Eliot. You... just damn it. She couldn't help the tears that fell now. She pulled out a chair and buried her face in her hands as she let the tears fall.

She didn't know if she could take anything else. Her brother was out there somewhere, possibly safe but she had no idea for sure. She really had no idea where he was and on top of the fact their father was dying, she had to face the fact that she may lose her brother as well. Then she'd truly be alone.

She had Matthew and Spencer, and even if she didn't see Eliot much, just the fact that he would no longer be around, well it just hurt too much to think about. She didn't know what to do.

She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the letter that Matthew had given her. It was pretty thick and she knew they were Eliot's words just for her. She longed to read it and then again she didn't. She knew he would have written it as if he were going to be dead soon, and even if he'd survived that time, it still meant the same thing was possible now.

She slowly reached across the table for a napkin from the napkin rack that also had belonged to their mother and she wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked around the kitchen to see a lot of things there she remembered. There was a lazy susan there on the counter holding his many spices. It was just like the one Eliot had made her for Christmas last year. She loved that thing. It was solid oak and it was so easy to use.

She turned to look at the living area and saw something she'd thought had been lost forever. She hadn't seen it since the day her mother and siblings had died. There on the back of a fairly modern brown overstuffed sofa rested the quilt their grandmother had made. It had been a present to their mother on her wedding day and it had always been on their bed. Until their father had removed it. She hadn't known where it ended up, her father had said he'd given it away, but here it was.

She got up, the letter still in hand, and pulled the quilt off the sofa and wrapped it around her. She could just faintly smell the honeysuckle that their mother loved. She had this special recipe for laundering her delicate items and it included honeysuckle water. She felt the tears again as she slumped down on the sofa. Slowly she pulled the letter from the envelope and began reading.

_Dear Em,_

_If you're reading this, then I'm really sorry. I never meant to let this happen to you, but some things just can't be helped. I want you to know that no matter what, I did try. I really did._

_I know I made you a promise over twenty years ago to always come back, but this time I may not be able to. And for that I am really sorry. Just know that it was for a good reason and since you're reading this letter then it's a safe bet that you've met Nate, Sophie, Hardison and Parker. They are the good reason; I did this for them. I couldn't let them pay for my mistakes. I couldn't let them fight my fight._

_And I want you to know that I also did this for you and Spencer; and maybe a little bit for Matt. You three will be fine. Just stay together and promise me you will always remember the fun things we did as kids._

_Always remember that you were the best sister a guy could ever have and while I may not have said it often enough, I always tried to show it. You have to know that after mom died, you were all I truly had left and for that you will always be first in my heart._

_Take care of Matt and don't let him continue to blame himself for the choices I've made since leaving the service. They were all my choices. It was never his fault, no matter what I told him. He did his job and trained me well, and it's my fault I just couldn't focus on that anymore._

_I'm not making excuses for my time serving my country. I would never do that, because I will never regret keeping her safe and her people safe. The only thing I regret is letting myself be led away from that life. I've made a lot of bad choices in my life, but none so bad as the choice I made to work for Moreau._

_I know you know about him; I know Matt would have told you everything he could. Just remember that everything I'd done at the time I thought I was doing for the right reasons. But I ended up doing the wrong things and because of that, I know that made me a bad man. I know that deep in my heart._

_I tried to make better choices, but things just didn't make sense anymore and nothing that has happened since my leaving the service behind has helped me to find myself. Nothing. I tried hard, but I just haven't seen the man I once was in a very long time._

_You know about Evan and Eaton, and you know what I've had to do for Moreau. But you don't know everything; you don't know what I've had to do to try and stay sane. And in the end nothing helped me with that. I'm still not sure if I'm sane anymore; all I know is that since working for Nate Ford, I've begun to at least feel like I'm able to make a difference. But I will never be free of the man I was for Moreau._

_Whatever Matt has told you about what I'd become, multiply it by 100 because that will give you a better idea of what I really was. I was a bad man, Emmy. A really bad man; and I'm still that bad man. I'm not that little kid you once teased or fought with anymore. I'm not that boy who loved to work with his hands and ride horses and work the farm. Not anymore not ever again.._

_I stopped being that little boy the day we put Mom, Elijah and Lizzie in the ground. That was the beginning of the end for me. No matter what I've done since, I can always trace it back to that day._

_I worked the best I could to get you all the advantages for a better life and you still ended up attached to this life by marrying my ass of a drill sergeant, Matt... Still can't get over that. I truly hated the guy and here you go falling for him! Believe me, I thought about beating the crap out of him for that._

_But when I saw the way he looked at you and the way you looked at him, well I just knew nothing I said would make a difference. I'm happy for you two, and Spencer is the best nephew ever. I really want you to be happy, so if Matt's what you want then I will never stand in the way of that. You deserve to be happy._

_I've kept a secret from you for years. A secret I learned from our mom and promised her that I'd always keep. I can't keep that promise anymore. You know that Eaton and Evan were not our cousins; that they were our brothers, but what you don't know is that our mother didn't want to have them. She knew something didn't feel right about the pregnancy._

_She tried... let's just say she tried to terminate her pregnancy. She tried to kill herself and she almost succeeded. She didn't want to tell me, but I made her. I made her tell me everything. That night when we were about 13 and Aunt Marie and Uncle Marty came to visit... well, you remember how our parents told us the truth that night. Mom told me first and I made her tell you too._

_Later that same night I cornered our mother again and told her I knew there had to be more to it than just that secret. While it was a big one, it wasn't all that bad, and she'd said she'd done bad things. So I made her tell me all of it._

_I won't go into details, but the truth is she tried to end the pregnancy and because of that she blamed herself for how Evan turned out. He was never a nice person, you know that; but what you don't know is that mom thought she caused the damage to him._

_She blamed herself for years for all the trouble he'd caused Aunt Marie and Uncle Marty. She blamed herself for all of it and she never told our father what she had tried to do. She made me promise to keep this secret._

_And you have to know that when Evan was killed five years ago, when Matt told you he'd been killed, well you have to know it was me. I killed him. He was working for Moreau and had turned on him and Moreau wanted him dead and he wanted me to do the job. He had me kill him._

_Moreau didn't think I knew who Evan was and when I'd done the job and reported it back to him, he thought he'd try and knock me down by telling me that Evan was my brother. And so help me, I will never forget the look on his face when I told him I already knew that._

_Then I told him that he may have taken me in and taught me some things, but he didn't teach me to be a killer. That I taught myself. And that's when I tossed the knife I'd used on his desk and told him I was done. He could have me killed if he wanted, but he probably wouldn't find another man as bad as me who could pull it off. At that moment I knew what I was and what I would always be._

_I turned and walked away and I never looked back. Not until Moreau showed up here in Boston last year. I fought hard to keep my connection to Moreau hidden from Nate and the others, but it all came out and now we're headed to San Lorenzo where I plan on ending this once and for all._

_No matter what Nate has planned you have to know that I will end Moreau. Nate's a good man, and he won't kill. But I'm not and I will end Moreau. He will never hurt anyone ever again._

_In dong what I plan to do, I know I may not walk away. And I'm okay with that, because then all the people I love will be okay. I have to do this Em, because if I don't he will come after all of you and I'm not going to let that happen. I will end Moreau and if I die too, then I'm okay with that._

_All I want from you Emmy is to understand why I'm doing this now and why I had to kill Evan then. He wasn't right in the head, mom knew it and I knew it after working with him and Moreau. He was a sociopath and I don't regret taking his life. He tormented everyone he came in contact with and I couldn't let him end our family._

_He would have too. He'd just found out who he really was and he planned on hurting our aunt and uncle as well as our father. So I ended him. I don't regret one second of it. You are more important to me than a brother could ever be._

_I just want you to know that no matter what anyone tells you later on about me, that I have always loved you, Matt and Spencer. And I never stopped loving our father. I just wish he hadn't stopped loving me. I know you've mended fences with him, but I cannot forget how he failed you and me after mom. I can't let that go, not when he refused to love the family he still had._

_I didn't plan on this letter being so long, but I guess since you are the only living person who has known me from day one, we share a history that is deeper and stronger than the ones I share with my team._

_I love you Emmy and I won't forget you. Don't look back and see the bad me, remember me when we were young. Remember the good times we had. Just remember the good me... if you can... please just remember the good me..._

_Ellie_

_P.S. I know it was you who put the dead fish in Aimee's car when she moved to Kentucky_!

Emma looked down at the last page and she knew without a doubt that she was going to find her brother and if any of the others had letters similar to this one, then they were going as a group to knock some sense into that damn man. She could not believe that he didn't realize just how good he was deep down. She couldn't let him continue to think those things about himself.

She didn't know how long she'd sat there, but she was still there when Matthew walked into the apartment. He looked at her sitting there still in her black clothing with a quilt wrapped around her, sound asleep. He smiled softly as he walked over to her.

He reached out to brush some hair off her face and he noticed the opened letter in her hand. He reached for it and moved her to lay back down on the sofa a covered her with another quilt from a nearby chair.

He looked down at the letter and moved silently to the chair where he sat down and read what Eliot had written for her. He knew he probably should have asked, but he also knew Emma would show him later anyway, so he read every word.

After he'd finished it, he laid it back in her hand and sighed as he realized he'd have to have a talk with Eliot when he found him. He hoped Quinn's friend was as good as he said she was, because he needed Eliot alive so he could set the man straight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The first thing Eliot saw when he opened his eyes was the carved wooden beams over his head. He slowly breathed in and realized it didn't hurt quite as much as it had before to take a deep breath. The next thing he saw was the machines next to his bed and then he looked down at the bed he was in.

Damn it, he thought. Kat had done it again. He didn't know how the hell she'd done it, but she had. When he got his hands on her he was gonna... well, he wasn't sure what he was going to do, but it would involve tying her to a damn chair where he could watch her like a hawk.

She had managed to not only drug him once, but three times now. And he'd somehow managed to let her. That's what made him the maddest. The damn woman was able to knock out Eliot Spencer without even trying.

He blinked at the brightness in the room. It was too bright to stand at first, so he let his eyes stay closed and relied on the rest of his senses to fill him in. He could only hear the beeping of the heart monitor at first, but then he became aware of the sounds coming from outside.

He opened his eyes and took in the fact he was in some kind of cabin, by the look of the wooden ceiling and walls. He turned to the window where the curtains were open to show him the source of the light in the room. Light...he thought. It had been dark outside when he'd woken up in the ambulance, but now it was light out so he knew it was morning.

He just didn't know which morning. Had he been out only a few hours or days? He didn't know for sure, but he needed to know where he was and what was going on. He remembered Kat saying something about a cabin in Vermont. Manchester? That sounded about right. Okay, he was in a cabin probably in Manchester, Vermont.

Now, where was Kat. He slowly looked around the room taking in the sparse furnishings and stopped when he spotted Kat sound asleep in a rocker next to the heart monitor. She didn't look comfortable crammed in the small rocker, but he couldn't help smiling at the slight drool stain on her nurse's smock top. And he almost laughed out loud when he caught the soft snores emanating from her.

For some odd reason just the sight of her looking like this stirred something deep inside him. He'd been attracted to a lot of women in his life, but none since Aimee had ever touched that place he kept locked away, and it was there in that secret place he was feeling a very strong urge to reach out and gather this woman close to him and just hold her.

Something about this image in front of him led him to see how vulnerable she could be; and it surprised him to see that this image also made him feel vulnerable. He wanted nothing more than to just hold her close. He'd known her not even a whole day, and he only wanted to be with her. What the hell was he thinking?

He could barely think straight and here he was at her mercy. He knew that if she asked him at that very moment, he would have killed for her. Not that killing was something new for him, but he'd always had a reason to kill; for her he'd have done it with no questions asked. And that truly surprised him.

He cleared his throat in the hopes of getting her attention. It didn't work, she just let out this adorable little snort that made him chuckle. So he carefully moved his hand to the monitor clipped to his index finger and carefully removed it. This caused one of the monitors to utter a soft beeping sound.

And it was that sound that had Kat jumping awake and falling out of the rocker to land with a thud on her butt beside his bed. She looked around confused until she settled in on Eliot's laughter. The man was laughing; at her she realized.

She took in the fact she was sitting on the floor and her clothes were twisted and... she slowly reached up to her mouth to find it wet and as she looked down at her shirt she saw the drool stain and realized she'd fallen asleep. She gave him the stink eye as she carefully got to her feet.

"That is not funny, Spencer." She remarked grumpily, as she tried to straighten her clothes and run her fingers through her shoulder length hair. "Not funny at all."

"Oh, but it is." He laughed. Surprisingly it didn't hurt too much to laugh. But that didn't stop the cough that snuck up on him as he switched from laughing to coughing in a blink of an eye.

Kat rushed to him to help ease him up a little so he could ease the coughing. She noted with relief that the coughing spell this time wasn't as bad as the one he'd had in the ambulance, and he seemed to quickly recover. She could feel his back as she moved to sit behind him to hold him upright and his breathing sounds didn't seem to feel as rattled as before either.

She knew these were good signs. He was healing, just slower than she'd like, but he was healing. She started to move away from him when he grabbed her hands that were wrapped around his middle to hold her to him.

"Don't." He said in a husky breath. "Stay. Please."

So she did. She stayed behind him allowing him to rest against her as she continued to hold onto him from behind. She smiled a soft smile as she felt his hands cover hers holding him. She liked his touch.

And she continued to stay when she felt him drop off to sleep. She reached up and moved some of his hair from his face and shifted a bit to accommodate him, but she continued to stay there just holding him as he slept.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

_When You Feel My Heat_

_Look Into My Eyes_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

Roughly about 8:15 AM in Boston

Detective Bonanno looked down at the evidence bag laying on his desk. In the bag was the cell phone they'd found at Eliot's safe house after CSI had cleared the bombing evidence. It was ringing; at least he thought it was ringing as it was playing music from an unfamiliar, but definitely a country tune. He smiled at that little fact he was going to store away until needed; Eliot Spencer liked country music.

He'd tried to search the cell yesterday, but found it password protected. He reached in the bag and pulled it out to see 'unknown caller' displayed on the ID screen and he noticed that he didn't need a password to answer it, so he did.

"Yeah?" He tried to sound like Eliot but knew he didn't pull it off very well. However the voice on the other end didn't seem to notice the difference right away.

"I'm just calling to give you fair warning, Spencer. I've been sent to take care of you." Mikel's middle eastern accent was heavy in her statement.

"Excuse me?" Bonanno was taken by surprise at this and the fact the caller was obviously female. He wasn't sure if he was hearing a threat or a secret tryst being elcited.

But that had been his mistake; when Mikel Dayan heard the comeback, she knew instantly that this was not Eliot Spencer. "Who is this and where is Eliot?"

Bonanno took a deep breath and replied, "I could ask you the same."

"Policeman." Came the accented confirmation of the detective's identity. Mikel paused as she debated on just hanging up. She knew her phone was a burner and the number had been blocked, but she was intrigued and she could use some information. Like why was Spencer's phone in the hands of the police. "Why should I answer you until you have answered me? I am not the one with Spencer's phone in my possesson."

"No, but you are the one issuing what I believe to be a threat against Eliot Spencer, and being a cop means I'm more than just a little bit curious as to why you would do that. In my experience, hitmen or women do not usually tell their victims they're coming after them, at least not in such a very personal way." He dropped all pretense as he spoke to the woman.

He knew it would be a waste of his time to use police resources to try and track this call, but he knew someone who was better equipped to find out who this person was and where they were calling Eliot.

"Whether I am making a threat or not is of no real importance here; I was just giving Mr. Spencer a warning as we do have what you might call a slight...history." She smiled. She was becoming more intrigued by the minute. "Is he in trouble again with the law or has his team lost the man?" She surmised that maybe Eliot was in hiding if Evan Chapman had already tried to take him down before calling her in. She really should have gotten some basic information from the man before moving forward. He must have sent Eliot into the ether if he'd called in his favor. She knew Eliot had a way of making his enemies very angry.

"History?" Bonanno mused. "That sounds like an interesting description, as I know Eliot and he does seem to have what you call history with quite a few people of the female variety." He paused to see if he'd get a response. When he didn't he continued, "I am not at liberty to discuss my case with you as to the whereabouts of Eliot Spencer, but I would greatly appreciate any informaton you could give me as to where you think he might be."

Mikel smiled to herself. Eliot was either in trouble with the law or was hiding from Evan and possibly also in trouble with the law; either way he was in the wind. Maybe she would not be able to complete this favor too quickly and therefore Eliot may survive this after all. But if she didn't come through with the favor, she'd be in default of keeping her family honor and as such her brother's honor. She would either have to kill Eliot or... she thought about this for a moment. She would either have to kill Eliot or she would have to kill Evan Chapman.

And the thought of ending Evan Chapman held far more appeal to her. She continued to smile as she worked on the formulation of a plan. "Mr. Policeman, please allow me to inform you that I do not have any informaton on the whereabouts of Eliot Spencer nor his team, I do however have some information that may be valuable to you. But anythng I tell you will be strictly between you and me and I will deny any knowledge of this conversation once we have ended this call. Do we understand each other?"

The detective smiled too as he took this in. This woman was not one of Eliot's conquests. No this woman was much more. "The name is Detective Captain Patrick Bonanno and my dear, I think we understand each other completely. I will take whatever you give me and keep it completely confidential as long as it in no way threatens my safety or anyone else's and it leads to my finding Mr. Spencer."

"Then, Detective you should be searching for someone named Evan Chapman. The man is Eliot's brother and I am willing to bet he has already tried to elimate Eliot, but thus far as been unsuccessful. Hence my appearance, if you know my meaning." This was going to be interesting indeed. "And if I know Eliot Spencer even a small bit, you can be sure Eliot is somewhere putting a plan into action to turn the tables on Mr. Chapman."

As the detective and Mikel continued their conversation, they were unaware that they were being overheard by Albert Wilson who sat at his computer smiling. He'd planted the phone in the detective's possession, a clone of Eliot's own, at the crime scene at Eliot's safe house. He had Eliot's actual phone in his own possession and had just been waiting for someone to try and contact the man he knew to be his grandson.

_This was a new twist,_ he thought as he listened to the female specialist he'd done his research on long ago. Once she'd appeared in Eliot and his team's life a little over a year ago, he'd kept track of her and the team of criminals she'd been working with at the time. Albert had everything on Eliot except his current location.

He would have to research this Evan Chapman and the fact that he was Eliot's brother, because he had no idea his Mary and Jack had children prior to Eliot and Emma. No, this was definitely news to him.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 8:30 AM Boston time

Nate sat at the dining table staring out the window at the early morning sun as it glinted off the windows of the building across the way. He was worried. He was really worried as they hadn't heard from Quinn yet, and he was the only one to claim to know exaxtly where Eliot was right now. And he needed to believe that Eliot was in good hands, but he still had his doubts.

He hated that Quinn wasn't sharing this information with them, and he was itching to get his hands on the man. He needed to find Eliot and get him back safe and sound. His _team_ needed Eliot. _He_ needed Eliot.

His mind somehow went back to a time not long after they'd done that job securing the hospital when Eliot had taken to the young abuse victim, Randy. Eliot had mentioned this in his letter and it was something the two had never really spoken too much about after that night. Eliot had held onto his reasons he'd been bothered by the abuse and Nate had always wondered if maybe Eliot had been abused too.

But he believed the man when he said he hadn't, he was just bothered by injustices to women, children and the elderly. It was his background; it was basically who Eliot was.

_Nate watched his retrieval specialist as the man sat at the breakfast bar in the dining room of the hotel they were in at the moment. He was sitting facing the window that looked out over the city, and he was alone. He was alone most of the time, Nate had begun to realize. Since they'd gotten back from the job in Nebraska and the fight Eliot had been forced into by Jed Rucker, Nate had noticed Eliot sneaking off more and more to be alone. He didn't know what the other man was doing or thinking about, but he'd respected his right to his privacy and had seen to it Eliot wasn't bothered during those times he sought solitude._

_They'd just finished the job in Boston where they'd secured the hospital floor to take down their mark, Eddie Maranjian, and now they were in a small town near New York City to take down a scammer during a Comic Book Convention in the Big Apple. Nate smiled at the memory of Hardison's reaction to the convention as opposed to Eliot's._

_Hardison was in geek heaven, but not Eliot. He was having a hard time with this job; security issues he could understand and he would deal with those; even the sales and events he got, but Eliot just didn't get why there was even such a thing as cosplay. Costume Roleplaying, Hardison had explained was a big deal and a way for people to escape their day to day lives by living out a dream or fantasy. Eliot didn't get the dressing up as a super soldier to fight for freedom part, even if it wasn't real._

_Probably because he had been a super soldier fighting for freedom once. Probably because he'd become jaded by the whole thing. Probably because he'd seen what happened to good people who didn't do anything. Nate sighed as he thought about the fact that they as a team still didn't know much about their hitter's past or what motivated him._

_This past week Nate had cornered Eliot to try and talk about what had happened with the kid at the hospital; Randy. Nate had kept up on everything with that situation and he'd kept it quiet from the rest of the team, but he had to know why Eliot had taken it upon himself to protect an obviously abused child. Nate could understand the need to protect the child, hell he would have done it himself if he'd run into Randy first, but what he didn't get is how Eliot had known so deeply just how far the abuse went and how he'd handled the removal of Randy from the home._

_Eliot could have beaten the crap out of the father and not one member of this team would have questioned him on it. But Nate had discovered that Eliot had used one of the US Marshals to take Randy from the home. Eliot has moved behind the local law and done the right thing by the boy; he'd gotten him out of a bad situation and he'd kept up with what was happening to him. He knew Randy had been placed in a good foster home and was doing well._

_As Nate watched the little girl dressed like Bell from Beauty and the Beast walk past him and make herself a bowl of cereal, he wondered if Eliot was going to be able to move past the last couple of jobs. He'd been put through some emotional situations during both and Nate knew Eliot didn't do emotional very well. At least not this kind of emotional._

_Nate started to head into the dining room to approach Eliot when he saw the same little girl move to sit directly next to Eliot at the bar. There were a dozen empty tables easily more accessible for the child, but she chose to sit by Eliot. Nate smiled as he watched her struggle to get up on the seat and he knew Eliot was aware of her the instant she'd gotten close to his radar, but he never moved to help her. Nate stood back and watched the two._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Somewhere in Eliot's not too distant past_

_Eliot sat at the counter of the breakfast bar in the hotel he was currently staying at along with the rest of the team. He'd come down earlier then the others because he didn't sleep as much as they did, and he was beginning to feel a little fenced in since they were forced to share one room. Hardison had tried his best to find them a place to stay in the city, but the convention had everything booked for a good 15 mile radius from the convention center where this geek thing was going on._

_Eliot snorted a little bit as he tried not to laugh at the weird stuff these people did during a Comic Con. He'd already seen two Darth Vaders, one Batman, and a whole slew of Avenger heroes leave the hotel to head into the city. The dressing up stuff was better than any costumes he'd seen on Halloween back in Oklahoma. He'd never admit it to Hardison, but he did find the cosplay stuff fun to watch. Some of the things people thought up was kind of brilliant._

_He was so involved in his thoughts he'd almost missed the little girl dressed like Bell as she moved to sit next to him at the bar. He noticed several empty tables closer, but the girl wanted to sit with him. _

_She wasn't more than five or six he thought as he watched her carefully sit her bowl of cereal next to his empty breakfast plate then pull herself up to settle on the bar stool. She continued to ignore him as she gently laid a well worn Raggedly Ann doll down next to her bowl and pick up a napkin to place just as carefully in her lap. She took great care in not spilling anything or bothering anyone as she helped herself._

_She quietly looked up to see him watching her, but instead of returning his smile, she quickly looked back down at her lap and concentrated on making her napkin wrinkle free. He let the smile slip away as he watched her trying to be so careful with everything she touched. _

_He knew in that instant. He'd stake his life on the fact that this little girl was another child like Randy. No, not like Randy. Randy had been physically abused, but this little girl had received more than just physical abuse. She was so withdrawn and afraid to look him in the eye. She was practically obsessed with being so careful. It was as if she knew if she spilled anything or bothered anyone she'd catch holy hell for it._

_This little girl was mentally abused as well; and that made Eliot angry. More than just with what happened to Randy, this little girl had been through so much more, and Eliot was having a very hard time suddenly not going and finding this little girl's family and hurting whoever had hurt her._

_"Hello there," he remarked holding his anger at bay in case the child were to pick up on it and assume it was directed at her._

_There was a sadness to the little girl; a sadness that was showing, but that was also just under the surface. She was marked by what had been done to her and it almost broke his heart in two. She'd lived a lifetme in her short life and she had lost her childhood. He could feel her pain as easily as if it were an actual physical wound._

_She still did not look up at him, but instead reached for her doll and began to run her fingers thrown the yarn of her hair. The doll had seen better days, but it looked to be clean and had several small tears mended on her dress. Someone couldn't afford a new toy so they'd mended the doll. Either that or it was a security blanket of sorts for the girl so that not even a new one could replace this one._

_"You should eat or your cereal will get soggy." He tried a different tactic. _

_He watched then as she slowly looked up to meet his eyes. He had to blink as he saw the pain there in the deep recesses of the crystal blue stare. The color was so like his own that for just a moment he thought he was looking in the mirror and seeing his own pain reflected back at him. He saw not just the pain though; he saw the secrets hidden there. Pushed back so that no one would notice at first glance._

_But Eliot could see the pain; the secrets. Because he knew the same kind of pain she felt to a degree. He may never have been physically abused, but he'd faced a lot of the same pain throughout his years. From the time he'd lost his mamma until this very day, he'd seen a lot of pain; too much pain. And he could see that same kind of pain was wearing this small child down. Her young soul was breaking down and if she didn't get help, well he knew that soon she'd be all but gone._

_He could see the dark circles under her eyes and while her long hair was braided in a very pretty French plait, she had obviously slept on it. Stray hairs were coming loose and she looked so tired. His heart did something it hadn't done in almost twenty years; it broke. He felt such intense pain at that one moment, that he almost cried out from the pressure it put on him._

_He understood her pain; he'd lived with something similar for most of his life, but he was a grown man and she was just a small girl. It wasn't fair for her to have to endure the pain of a thousand different touches; tortured and hit more than he himself had probably endured. This child should not have to feel the physical pain of being abused or the mental anguish of being broken down into nothing. _

_He knew this child had endured more mental abuse than physical; he'd had the same feeling at the hands of his own father when he and his sister had been tossed aside in his father's grief at the loss of their mother. He knew his father hadn't meant to neglect him and Emma, but that didn't help stop the mental anguish they'd experienced. Eliot knew that the abuse he'd known was different than this little girl's though. She'd been told she was worthless and probably had even been told she wasn't wanted and that was the worst kind of abuse. At least is father had never said he was worthless; he'd just made him feel that way._

_Eliot had seen his share of physical torture during his military days, as well as his days with Moreau, and he'd even faced mental torture. It was how you broke a man. First the physical, then the mental. Everything was designed to wear a man down to get whatever information you needed out of him. That was bad enough, but then the final stage was when they began telling you that you were worthless, no longer needed by whomever you were being forced to give up. When that happened, it was hard to find a way out when you had nothing to look forward to if you lived through the torture. It became a way of life for him; when no one else cared what happened to him, he had begun to think why should he care about himself._

_He looked around the hotel again in search of anyone associated with the child. After finding no one who seemed to be watching out for her, he turned back to the girl. "Where's you mamma, sweetie?" He asked gently. When he saw the child flinch slightly, he muttered under his breath then he heaved a sigh as he tried again. "How about your daddy?"_

_The little girl looked back up then with tears in her eyes and said simply, "he died."_

_Eliot blinked at that reply. It hurt to see the girl commenting in such an adult way and the way she seemed to struggle to keep her tears at bay. Her struggle only made him long to find the cause of this girl's pain and eliminate it. She was aging right before his eyes and she was leaving her childhood behind. In that one instant all he saw was a small adult who'd seen too much of the bad side of life._

_"Okay, tell you what? How about I see if I can scrounge up somethng better than soggy cornflakes?" He asked gently smiling to let her know he understood and wouldn't ask her any questions about what she was trying to hide._

_She nodded slowly and he moved from the bar stool and headed for the buffet line. He filled two plates with a heaping mound of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, shredded hashbrowns, and some bagels with cream cheese. Then he picked up another plate and piled it with french toast, smothered in fresh butter and powdered sugar. He added some fresh strawberries and melon to the plate then carefully carried all three plates back to the little girl and set the plate with the french toast and fruit in front of her. He pushed the forgotten bowl of cereal out of the way and set the other two plates between him and her while he regained his seat on the stool._

_"I'm still kind of hungry, so I hope you don't mind it if I share with you." He said picking up a clean fork and handing it to her before reclaiming his from his empty plate._

_He quietly dug into his eggs while he secretly watched as the girl reached out and quetly snatched both of the pieces of bacon from his plate. He pretended not to notice as she shoved one whole piece in her mouth at once._

_Soon he had her talking to him about her doll, not Raggedy Ann he learned, but Raggedy Angie; and the trip she was on with her mother. They were both attending the convention that he and his team were about to attend._

_Eliot learned that the girl's mother was called Beth and she belonged to a fan club that was fairly large if he was to believe the little girl when she said there were at least a hundred of them attending the convention to see one of the special guests. Some guy who by her description was a cross between a Disney superstar and Rambo; he had been the co-star of some show he'd never heard of that had long since been canceled._

_She said her mom called him her honey bunny, which she thought was funny since he wasn't made of honey and he wasn't a bunny at all. Eiot laughed with her as she laughed when explaining how nervous her mother was about meeting him._

_Eliot also learned the man not only acted, but he seemed to be able to do all of his own stunts, as well as sing and was an acclaimed chef. Eliot thought the girl was making the guy seem more popular than he probably truly was, but he made a mental note to check out the guy later when he got over there to the convention center. He was pretty sure the guy was nothing without a stuntman or his agent there making him look good._

_He laughed as she explained some of the guy's antics on the show and he didn't beleive anyone could act like they were a mercenary unless they'd actually really seen some action. War was real and there was no way to fake it if you'd never experienced it. But he listened to the child while she got more and more animated and he soon realized that she was just as big a fan as her mother, if not more._

_He also learned the gir'ls name was Molly and she was six years old. He'd learned tht she was with her mother, her Aunt Kathy and a group of fan groupies of this guy's; and Eliot learned that her and her mother had just moved to Connecticut from Oregon after her father died. At the mention of her father the girl would clam up everytime, so he was careful to keep the conversation steered away from him._

_He knew from that little bit of informtion that it was the girl's father who had most likely been the cause of her all her pain; children of abuse always seemed to try and protect the abuser, and Molly didn't want to say anything about her father, good or bad. He also learned her mother tried really hard to not trigger any memories of her father based on Molly not knowing what really happened to her father. She said her mother told her he was in a car accident and that he was now living in Heaven with her grandparents. Eliot doubted the man was in Heaven, but if that's what her mother told her he wasn't going to argue about it. It seemed the mother was trying to protect her as much as she could._

_He'd learned they'd only been in Connecticut for a short time - maybe a week or two, so the pain was probably still very fresh in her mind and would take a long time to heal. Molly also let it slip that her named used to be Sophia, but her Aunt Kathy had changed it because she said she looked more like a Molly._

_That was interesting, he mused. Obviously the mom and this so called aunt had somehow gotten away from the husband; maybe he'd really died or maybe they were in hiding hence the name change, but either way Eliot believed that the mom was not the problem, or at least he hoped she wasn't. He could feel the way the girl talked about both parents when she did, that she didn't like talking too muh about her father, but she only showed worry when she talked about her mother._

_It really intrigued her that Molly talked more about her aunt than anyone else. This Aunt Kathy was like a god to her. He could tell that this child had placed this woman on a pedestal and nothing could tear her down. Hopefully whether she was a real aunt or not, she'd be in this child's life for awhile because this girl needed stability._

_He smiled as Molly went back to talking about this actor guy again and how she was excited about getting her picture taken with him today. Soon, all too soon the lttle girl finally said she needed to get back upstairs before her mamma woke up and found her missing. She wasn't supposed to leave the room without someone with her, but she'd been so hungry and she hadn't slept well on the hard mattress of the hotel bed._

_Eliot offered to escort her back to the room, but she produced her key card and said she'd be fine. She was back to being the adult as she quietly slid from the bar stool and starting walking away. He stood up from his seat to begin gathering up the trash when he saw her suddenly stop and turn back around to face him. She ran back and threw her arms around his waist in a tight bear hug. He bent down to her level as she moved her arms to pull him close by huggin his neck._

_"Thank you Mr. Eliot. For breakfast and talking to me." She suddenly seemed shy as she pulled back and patted him gently on his cheek._

_"It's just Eliot, sweetie. Or you can call me El if it's easier. But never mister, I'm not old enough to be a mister." He joked with her._

_She smiled as blue eyes locked with blue eyes. "No, you're still a mister. Mamma said we should always respect people who are kind to us by calling them Mr. and Mrs. or Miss. And you were kind to me, Mr. Eliot. So that's who you will always be to me." She reached around and hugged him even tighter as Eliot hugged her back. _

_Eliot felt the tears gathering behind his eyes as he took in the fact that Nate was hiding in the corner of the restaurant behind a large section of the newspaper. He'd seen him sit down earlier and knew the man was trying to hide, but he'd seen him and knew he was being watched. He was glad Nate had kept to himself. Eliot didn't know if Molly would have opened up to him if Nate had joined him._

_"Okay, sweetie, mister it is. But just between you and me, you can still respect people just by being their friend and smiling a lot more. Can you do that for me? Smile more?"_

_Molly thought about that. "Now I can." She said and then she was waving goodbye and runnng off towards the bank of elevators as Eliot watched her until she disappeared inside one._


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-One

_Don't Get Too Close_

_It's Dark Inside_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

Roughly about 10:00 Massachusetts Time

Travis Quinn quickly grabbed his duffle bag from just inside the plane as he hurried down the steps to hit the ground running. He had a car waiting for him by the small service building not far from the runway where his contact had just landed his plane. He needed to hurry as his contact had just gotten some info that the field was about to be closed for the day for some maintenance work and they didn't need to be around in case any of the workers became suspicious of their sudden arrival.

He watched as his friend quickly closed the doors and he worked to pull the steps away from the plane himself to be sure he had enough room for takeoff. He hurried to the waiting jeep and quickly tossed his bag in the backseat before jumping behind the wheel. He watched the plane take off and smiled as he his friend disappeared into the blue sky.

He reached for the keys hidden in the visor and was just about to start the car when someone wrenched the door open and he was being pulled from the vehicle. He felt his head being rammed into the back door and he fell to the ground spurting blood from his nose.

He feigned confusion for a second to assess the situation and he could tell there was more than one someone. At least three by the sounds of their breathing. He spit out blood as he ran his tongue over his teeth to check they were all accounted for.

"You really shouldn't have done that." He said as he slowly turned to face the three men. "You really shouldn't have done that at all."

"Why? What are you gonna do Quinn?" The one closest to him taunted.

The man was roughly the size of a Mack truck, Quinn thought with a smile. He liked them big. Meant they were more vulnerable in certain spots of their anatomy. He smiled a bloody smile at Mack and slowly moved to sit up with his back against the jeep.

"Well, you seem to know my name, but I don't know who the hell any of you are. Care to enlighten me?"

Mack just smiled as he reached behind him and pulled out the cuffs from his belt. "Sorry. Not part of the plan."

Quinn could see the other two were armed with what looked like military grade assault rifles and they were staying behind Mack, so he knew he'd have a little more trouble bringing them closer, but hell he'd faced off against worse. He continued to smile as he quickly brought his right foot up to connect with Mack's left knee cap and he had the pleasure of both feeling and hearing the snap as it gave way.

The big man howled in pain and went down hard. He lost the cuffs and his face hit the ground which gave Quinn another pleasurable feeling when he heard the crunch of nasal cartilage giving way.

The man moaned, but didn't move. Quinn didn't spare him another look as he quickly jumped to his feet to take the other two down. He grabbed one man's gun and used it to bring it into his ribs to feel some give way from the hit. He felt a bit of satisfaction at that as the man stumbled back and fell to the ground holding his right side. Quinn didn't waste time watching the man as he turned to face the thrid man with the rifle still in his hands.

This man seemed to be at least somewhat smarter as he quickly moved behind the rear of the jeep and began firing at him. Quinn had no where to go, but down. He dropped and just as he was rolling under the Jeep he felt the bullet tear into his left leg from behind before he was pulling himself under the vehicle for cover. He paused as he managed to maneuver himself around onto his stomach and pull the rifle up under him.

He watched the man's legs at the back of the Jeep and just as the man dropped down to look for Quinn, he fired. Quinn fired two quick bursts and saw with relief as both bullets tore into the young man's face as he fell backward dead.

Quinn didn't stop to celebrate as he quickly turned his body back to the side where he'd rolled under to check on the other two men. Mack was still down for the count, but the second man he couldn't see. He looked all around him searching for the man's legs and didn't see anything. Either the man had grown wings and was on top of the car, in which case he would have felt the car shift from the weight, or more likely he'd turned tail and ran.

He slowly rolled out from under the car and looked to see the man was indeed running for an SUV parked not far from him. He couldn't let the man get away in case there were others out there, but he hadn't taken a man down like this in a long time. Quinn had no qualms about killing to save himself, but he didn't like shooting someone in the back.

He raised the rifle and sighted at the man. Just as he was debating on pulling the trigger, the man reached the SUV and turned back to face Quinn. Quinn didn't hesitate; he pulled the trigger and watched through the sight as his bullet hit home and the man went down with the bullet wound still smoking from between his eyes.

Quinn didn't take the time to worry about Mack, he knew the noise would have alerted someone so he threw the rifle aside and managed to pull himself up and get inside the Jeep. He pulled his belt from his jeans and quickly made a tourniquet to slow down the bleeding. He found the keys and got them in the ignition on the third try after wiping the blood from his hands on his jeans. He got the car started and pulled out just as he saw another SUV pulling up behind the first one in his rear view mirror.

He didn't know if this assault had been the result of his own doing or because someone knew he was coming to help find Spencer, but either way the men had been good. Not great, but good. He could tell they'd once been military, just not the best the military had to offer. Someone was after him one way or another and he needed to get to Ford's place as soon as possible, hopefully before he bled out.

He drove like hell until he hit the highway and then slowed so he wouldn't attract any attention, but he knew he wasn't going to get much farther if he didn't find help. He was already feeling the affects of the blood loss and he didn't really want to end up crashing the car. He took the first exit off the highway after giving it some thought and he found he didn't know where he was. He'd been to Boston a lot, but never this far out and while Braintree wasn't a major metropolis, it was fairly large and it was part of the greater Boston area.

He pulled the Jeep to a stop just outside what looked like a closed till further notice small business building. It looked like it had been some kind of nick nack or antique store. He reversed and looked for the street that led to the alley. He turned and found the back side of the building. Before getting out he fished out his cell phone.

He debated on who to call. He needed to call Vance, but he also needed to check with Kat. Vance could help, but Kat might have contacts here too that could help. Yet calling her could expose her and in turn expose Spencer, and he didn't want anything happening to Kat.

His mind made up, he punched in the number. He was waiting for the other person to pick up; when he heard the questioning hello, he spoke through a raspy throat that was threatening to cause him to lose what little food he'd had in the last ten hours.

"Vance...?" He tried, but could barely hear his own voice. "Vance..." he tried again. "Um, I seem to have a problem...not gonna...not gonna make it to...to you right...right now."

"Quinn? What's wrong?" Vance's voice came through the phone loud and clear.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Col. Vance stood in Nate's loft watching as Hardison worked on the informaton he'd gathered from the warehouse, while Ford himself sat at the table with the woman Sophie. The blonde was no where to be seen, but he figured it best not to know what that woman did to unwind.

Both Emma and Whitmore were across the hall at Eliot's loft. Vance paced with his cell glued to his ear. He could tell something was wrong with Quinn. He didn't sound good and he was having trouble speaking.

"Quinn? What's wrong?" He blurted into the phone. He ran a nervous hand through his hair. "Come on Quinn, talk to me."

Nate got up and walked over to him and Vance pulled the cell away from his ear and hit the speaker button. They both could barely hear the retrieval specialist's reply to Vance.

"Can't make it...shot...three of 'em at...airfield. Not sure if...if my fault or..."

They could make out the sounds of traffic nearby. "Quin where are you? Tell me and I'll send someone to you."

"I'm fine. Just losing a little blood...nothing major. Gonna hole up and...get fixed. Gotta find Kat, Vance...she's... she needs our...help."

Vance and Nate heard what sounded like a horn blasting then really close to the phone. They winced at the noise, but didn't disconnect. Nate grabbed Vance's cell much to Vance's surprise and rushed to Hardison.

He handed the phone to hm and said simply, "trace it."

Hardison looked surprised, but quickly pulled out a cord and plugged into Vance's phone and attached the other end to his laptop. He began pushing buttons on the keyboard.

Vance came up behind the hacker and reached to pick up the phone trying not to disturb the cord. "Quinn, where are you? I'm going to send help for you."

Quinn tried hard to focus on his surroundings having pulled his head away from the steering wheel where he'd set off the horn. He tried to focus on the numbers over the back door of the building he'd found. "Not sure. Still in Braintree...first exit off highway 95...abandoned building...number is..." He tried to focus harder on the numbers. "Looks like 3...9...5...8...don't know the street."

Nate reached over and spoke into the cell. "Quinn, this is Nate Ford. Where is your contact Kat? Where does she have Eliot?"

But there was no reply. Just the sounds of a car door being opened and then some muffled voices. Voices. More than one voice was suddenly coming through the line.

"Quinn?" Vance tried as they listened to what was the unmistakable sound of someone moaning and someone trying to offer comfort. "Who's there? Tell me what's happening!"

There was the sound of rustling and then there was nothing. The phone went silent.

Both Quinn and Ford looked at Hardison who shook his head. "Not enough time. Best I've got is the general location and he's somewhere like he said just off the highway in this general area." He pointed to his computer screen showing a general map of Braintree as it overlapped with the outskirts of Boston.

"Damn it!" Vance said as he tossed his phone onto Hardison's table.

"Colonel," Hardison began as he picked up the cell. "I can still keep trying if you can get him back." He handed the cell back to Vance who took it gingerly.

"I don't have his number. He never gave it to me and it comes up unknown on the ID screen."

Hardison smiled at the man. "No number is unknown." He took back the phone and pulled out a different cord and switched it with the first one. "I hope you don't have any deep military secret calls on here, cause I'm about to go fishing."

Vance just shook his head in wonder. "No wonder Eliot likes it here." He wached as within minutes Hardison had a long list of calls made to his phone within the last twenty-four hours. "Whatever you find on there, Hardison better stay just within us. I got calls from my wife and her mother on there."

Hardison looked up at the man. "You get calls from your mother-in-law?"

Vance laughed at the guy's expression. "Oh, yeah. Been married to her daughter going on 18 years and she still finds time to let me know when I'm doing things wrong."

"Hardison, what if we can't get through to Quinn's cell? Cab you still trace it?"

Hardison shook his head. "Not unless it gets answered." He looked at Nate as he saw the fear in the man's eyes. "But," he began as he moved through the list of numbers. "If the Colonel can help me eliminate the numbers he knows and we go with the times that we know Quinn has already called him, then when I have Quinn's number, I can start a search on his calls. It'll take longer since I don't have his actual phone to plug into, but if I hack his carrier I might be able to find this Kat's number and we can try calling her. I can't trace her number without her phone either, but if she answers our call then I can trace the phone call from our phone." He smiled as his fingers danced over his keyboard.

Nathan Ford smiled for the first time in over twenty-four hours. "Make it happen, Hardison. Make it happen."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"He got away, sir." The vioice said into the phone that Evan had locked to his ear. "But we've got men out searching for him. He won't get far. Frank winged him and he was losing a lot of blood." The man knelt down to look at the blood drops on the ground where the Jeep had previously been parked near the small airfield.

"And your men?" Evan asked, not really caring, but knew he needed all the details.

"Ted is on his way to medical, broken knee, nose and concussion. Billy's dead and so is Frank. Both brutal, but precise kills. The man is as good as you said."

"I told you Spencer trained him." Evan paused as he took in the info. "Authorities have been diverted?"

"Yes sir. This has become a military investigation. I've got three teams searching the surrounding area in a 10 mile radius. We'll find him."

"Good. I want him ASAP. He's the one that damned nurse was contacting." Evan smiled as he thanked his electronics expert at being able to post not just one camera in Eliot's room, but three. He had three angles of the woman texting what seemed to be innocent messages. His expert had taken his sweet time, but he'd just come through with the two numbers she'd contacted. One was scrambled and led them all over the country, but he was working on narrowing it down. The other had been a burner cell that he'd traced from overseas to the airfield and Evan through his contacts had discovered who was being dropped off at that airfield.

The nurse somehow had connections to the military just as Eliot had. It was ironic that he got a nurse for his brother that just so happened to have had a brother under Eliot's command as well as this Travis Quinn he'd discovered. She had to know who Eliot was to begin with and had somehow gotten herself assigned to work with Dr. Richards. There were just too many coincidences to this whole thing. And Evan didn't believe in coincidences. All things happened for a reason.

"Let me know when you have his location. Don't kill him, bring him to the warehouse. I'm almost there now; I got sidetracked by Riley with the info on Quinn. Liam still isn't answering his cell either, so send a team to start searching for hm in case he's not at the warehouse where he's supposed to be. And when you find him, kill him. He's been nothing but trouble really."

"Yes, sir. Anything else?"

Evan thought about that. "Send a team to Ford's place . I want to start keeping tabs on them. Word is they've brought in outside help and Liam's team isn't responding; the one he was supposed to have on them. If he had any on them." He thought about something else. "And have Nelson keep tabs on Dayan; make sure she's heading to the city. She's another lose end if she doesn't follow through."

"Yes sir."


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty-Two

_They Say It's What You Make_

_I Say It's Up To Fate_

_It's Woven In My Soul_

_I Need To Let You Go_

Roughly about 10:30 Boston Time

Albert walked quietly into the kitchen where his wife was sitting at the kitchen table drinking her second cup of coffee while still in her nightgown and bathrobe. He smiled down at her froggy slippers he'd gotten her last Christmas. God, she loved those things and she wore them everyday. By the looks of them they were showing that love and he thought he'd have to find another pair for this year's gift.

Marion smiled back at her husband as he bent to kiss the top of her head. The man knew how to show just the right kind of affection and always at just the right time. She watched as he moved over to get a cup of coffee for himself before settling down at the table across from her.

"Do you want me to make you some toast or maybe a regular breakfast?" She asked him reaching over to gently stroke his hand.

"In a bit, hon." He clasped her hand in his as he took a healthy sip of his morning brew. "Just need my morning wake up first." He paused as he took another sip of the hot liquid. "I don't care how old I get, or what my body does to rebel against my brain, don't you ever let them take my coffee away from me." He replied with a blissful look.

"Wouldn't think of it, dear. I value my health too much as it is." She chuckled at the man she'd known for almost all her adult life. "Did you get everything taken care of with Eliot's team?"

Albert set the cup down and traced the rim with a finger from his free hand. "Yes. I just destroyed the earbud so they should know it's offline soon. The camera footage I got from the warehouse shows they got my breadcrumb trail and found Liam Chapman as well as the others on this Evan Whoever's team. That being taken care of means now all they have to do is find Eliot. It seems though that the man they call Quinn has run into some trouble; while they were talking to him, he seemed to be injured, so I sent out a message to some friends and they should be able to find him soon. I'm waiting for a call back on that."

"What about this Evan? Do you really think he was Mary and Jack's son? Have you found anything out on him yet?"

"Yes, I do think it's possible now that I put some pieces together. I wasn't myself back then you know. My memory didn't come back in full till after Mary and Jack were already married, but I searched through some records and I found something about a time when Mary was about 16 and she went to stay with some relatives of her stepfather. That was probably when she was pregnant. After she had the babies, her oldest stepbrother Martin Taylor and his wife Marie adopted both babies. Marie was with Mary and the excuse was that Marie was pregnant and Mary was helping her out." Albert thought back on some of the pages he'd read from the newspapers as well as the previously sealed adoption papers he'd found from the small town of Oklahoma.

There hadn't been much, but he'd been able to search using genealolgy websites and he'd found the twin boys' birthdate and was able to put together a fairly accurate timeline. He wished he could have been there for his daughter and Jack during that time. He hated that he'd missed out on so much of her life.

"Albert, you're blaming yourself again, I can see it in your eyes. Stop that right now. We've been over this a hundred times, you didn't know who you were back then; and besides you couldn't have done anymore than your Evelyn and her husband did for Mary. You know they did the right thing for her considering the way things were back then. And you know Mary ended up with a good man and a good family."

Albert squeezed his wife's hand. "I know, it just doesn't help me to stop feeling guilty about leaving Mary and her mother Evelyn all alone; but you're right. If I'd known I'd have been there for them." He heaved a heavy sigh. "But what bothers me the most is how this Evan turned out. He's evil; and nothing like Mary or Jack or even this Martin or Marie. Something's not right when a brother tries to kill another brother, I don't care what his reasons are."

Marion reached out her free hand and gently stroked her husband's cheek. "You've done what you can to put an end to the warehouse crew. Thank God we were able to fgure that part out. But now you have to trust Eliot's team to find him wherever he is now. We know he's not with Evan anymore so that's a plus. We know that the nurse got him out and that she's at least gotten him someplace safe and maybe this Quinn will be able to help when he's fixed up. Do you know how badly he was hurt?"

"No. I just overheard his call to this Col. Vance and Ford. When he told them where he was going to land, I sent a few of Edgar's boys out to keep an eye on him. I haven't heard back from them yet. All I know is he passed out while talking to the Colonel and that man Hardison is working on tracking him and his phone which is kind of ingenius." Albert chuckled as he remembered what Hardison planned to do. "I'm good, but that boy is damned brilliant and if there was any way to let him know how proud I am of him as Eliot's friend I would." He beamed at how this team of Eliot's cared for him like a family.

"Well, it just means that boy was brought up right by his Nana." Marion laughed as she remembered Eliot telling them once about Hardison's Nana.

Sometimes people told old people all kinds of things because they didn't see them as a threat and while Eliot was definitely cautious to a fault, he'd slowly been letting his guard down with them and just seeing them as his elderly neighbors who needed help every now and then.

Albert sobered as he thought of something else. Marion watched her husband as his demeanor changed. "What is it, Albert?"

He squeezed his wife's hand again and reached over to kiss her on the lips. "Nothing, my dear. I was just thinking that this is about as far as we can go now that I've destroyed the earbud; which is a good thing anyway because I think that Nathan Ford was very aware of the fact that they were being monitored. Everyone's moods have shifted just a bit; not enough for most people to get, but I can tell. That Mr. Ford really is as smart as Eliot said and I think he may remember this even after getting Eliot back. He's going to file this away and someday he may just show up on our doorstep."

Marion looked worried at that. "Then maybe we should move on. I know you say it's safe, but I don't want anything to tear us apart. Although..."

Albert smiled at his wife. "Although you couldn't stand being two feet from Eliot. That boy has you wrapped around his finger, you know." He teased as he wife swatted his hand still clinging to hers in mock protest. "Don't worry, I think it's safe and besides, I'm beginning to think that it really wouldn't matter if Mr. Ford showed up. We'd tell him the truth and I think he'd be understandable." Albert thought about what he'd learned of Nathan Ford, the man. "Yes, I think he would be very understandable in family wanting to watch out for family."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mikel stared at the mazagine she had brought with her when she boarded her plane in New Orleans. She still knew she had to keep up appearances for Evan Chapman, so she was headed to Boston. She knew he'd never just let her go about this job without being watched, so after she finished filling in the nice Detective Captain Bonanno on Evan, she'd made flight arrangments and had been able to secure a first class ticket on the next flight out. She would be arriving in a couple hours; from there she would be meeting with Evan's contact who would give her all the information she needed on finding Eliot Spencer.

She also knew she couldn't take the chance of contacting the detective or any of Ford's team once she landed, but she felt fairly certain that she wouldn't be monitored too cclosely from the plane if she managed to make a phone call from the privacy of the bathroom.

She quietly got up and made her way back to the bathroom where she secured herself before she pulled the air phone from it's cradle. She was certain that she had been followed on the plane, but the gentleman was riding in coach and he wouldn't see her using the first class facilities. She was also fairly certain that he couldn't trace her call from the air. If he could, she could just explain it away as trying to contact Eliot's team for information on the retrieval specialist; it was thin but it could work.

She sat down as she waited for her call to be connected. She wasn't sure what she would say, but she had made her decision when she'd spoken with the police detective. She liked Eliot Spencer and if he wasn't coming after her, then she didn't feel right going after him without a more concrete reason other than her family's honor being at stake.

Honor was a funny thing when other aspects of life got in the way. She owed her family, but she didn't owe Evan Chapman. Maybe her brother had once, but her brother was gone now and if she could she was going to figure a way to make sure Evan got what he deserved while her brother's honor remained untarnished.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nate felt his phone going off and he reached in his suit pocket for it. He read the info on the caller ID. Caller unknown. Seemed everyone liked to be considered caller unknown lately, he thought grimly.

He hit the key to answer. "Ford."

"Hello, Mr. Ford."

Nate looked up at Sophie who was seated across from him at the table where Emma had just set down some fresh orange juice and muffins from the oven.

Emma been able to catch a couple hours of sleep and was now working in Nate's kitchen in pretty much the same way Eliot did when he was there. The smell was amazing as she made space for the breakfast casserole she set down in the middle of the table next to Sophie.

"Miss Dayan. I'm guessing this isn't a casual call." He replied as he let his team know who was calling as well as the others in the room. He got up to walk over and stand next to the window overlooking the parking lot behind the building. "Why would you be calling me and not Eliot?"

"I think you are a smart man Mr. Ford, so you've probably already figured that out." She paused as she heard footsteps outside the door but they soon faded away. "I have some news for you concerning our Mr. Spencer."

"Our Mr. Spencer?" Nate questioned. "Is that a term agreeable with Eliot?"

Mikel laughed softly at the man. "True, no one owns Eliot Spencer." She smiled as she thought of the man in question. No; no one owned Eliot Spencer. "I am just sharing some information which you may or may not already have."

"Well, then please Miss Dayan, continue. I'm all ears." Nate Ford smiled charmingly as he took in the sight of two SUVs just pulling up outside the building across the street. The first one's occupants were barely visable, but the car behind it, Nate was able to get a good view of the two men inside. Surveillance teams one and two he surmised. He was surprised that Evan Chapman hadn't put a team on them sooner, but he didn't pause to think to much as he turned to Vance who was just about to sit down at the table.

Nate snapped his fingers to get the man's attention. Vance raised questioning eyebrows and then reached for his weapon lying on the table where the team sat for viewing Hardison's presentations. He come over to Nate with Whitmore following closely behind him. Nate didn't have to point out the surveillance as both men caught sight of the teams right away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat walked out of the small cabin's bathroom after having left Eliot sleeping soundly for once without being medicated. She pulled the towel wrapped around her body tighter as she hurried towards the only bedroom of the cabin.

She'd forgotten to grab some clean clothes to take with her after she'd taken a much needed shower. She looked over at Eliot to see he was in the same position she'd left him, slightly elevated with the extra pillow behind his back and he seemed to be breathing evenly and without any distress. She released a breath as she realized she'd been worried just being away from him the ten minutes it took to shower.

She turned to the dresser and was glad to find clean underwear, bra, socks as well as a black tee shirt and comfortable jeans among the items that Bella had kept stocked for her. She turned around clutching the clothing to her and was shocked to see Eliot in the same position, but now his eyes were open and he was watching her movements.

She managed to hold in the sound she almost made at the surprise of seeing him like that. "That is creepy Spencer!" She managed to get out while she watched him slowly smiling at her from behind the oxygen mask she'd left over his nose and mouth.

Eliot carefully raised a hand and moved the mask from his face and let it drop to his side. "Sorry." He replied evenly although he wasn't. He'd enjoyed seeing the woman wearing next to nothing moving around quietly trying to not disturb him.

He'd seen the moisture on her shoulders even from the distance between them and he could just imagine what was hidden beneath the towel. Her hair was freshly washed and tendrils were escaping the hastily wrapped towel covering her head, but he could smell the green apple fragrance wafting his way. That's where that smell had come from triggering memories for him, he thought with a smile.

Kat looked at the man laying there smiling at her. He was about as sorry as a cat was at catching the mouse, she thought. The man didn't even bother hiding his smile at her and she hated herself for it, but it brought a thrill to her deep inside to see a man look at her like a woman. She was suddenly so damned curious to know what exactly he was thinking at that particular moment.

"Yeah, you look sorry." She clutched her clothes tighter to her. "I'm going back to the bathroom to change so wipe that smile off your face, mister."

"What? I don't even get a sneak peek?" Eliot replied taking in her defensive gesture of the way she was clutching her clothes to her. "I'm injured here, and I've been a relatively good boy as far as not taking you apart for drugging me everytime you pleased."

Kat actually smiled at that remark. She knew he'd be mad about that, but she wasn't going to apologize for it. He'd needed rest and it was her job to make sure he got it; and she loved her job. "Well, Spencer, you may be right, but you are still in no condition to do anything let alone getting a sneak peek. So sorry, but I'll just have to keep your health in mind and stay covered up." She grinned at the man.

She couldn't believe she was standing there trading sexual inuendos with a man she'd just met the day before while helping to remove two bullets from his chest. Her life wasn't even remotely considered normal, but this was definitely not even in a league with what she faced day to day.

Eliot chuckled at her while taking a good long look at what he was able to see. "Fine, but I'll warn you, I heal quickly. I'm already feeling much better." He looked over at the window and could see the sun was still high outside the treeline. "What time is it exactly? Or day? Or hell what year is it?" He asked with some worry showing through in his tone.

He really needed to find a way to contact his team. They had to be worried beyond worried, especially Nate. He hated that they didn't know what was going on with him. Then again, maybe they did know something. Eliot didn't know what Evan had done to his team. For all he knew, he may have let them think he was gone for good or worse even dead...

Kat laid the clothes down on the dresser as she stepped closer to Eliot on the opposite side of the bed. "You're worried about your team aren't you?"

Eliot turned to look at her and he didn't have the energy to try and hide his fear of what was going on with everything. He hated not knowing what to do or at the very least just having a clue. He'd depended so much on his team these past years that not having backup suddenly put him at odds with his inner instincts for survival.

Kat couldn't help feeling his pain at not knowing what to do or who to trust. She didn't know how to help him with that right now until Sam or Bella came back to check on them. Her cell wasn't working so there was no way to contact his team, but if she could get her friends to call them that would be the best she could do.

"Yeah." He replied softly. "Just a little." His breathing was beginning to become more pronounced as he spoke.

Kat reached out for the oxygen mask he'd dropped and she placed it back over his face. As Eliot gave her an exasperated look, she smiled at him. "If you keep this on for however long I decide, I may just let you have a sneak peek later." She laughed as she saw the look of surprised anticipation in his eyes. "You, Spencer bring out the very worst in me." And with that she reached out and gently placed a kiss on his forehead.

Eliot was still grinning under the mask long after Kat had grabbed her clothes and left the room.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three

_Your Eyes, They Shine So Bright_

_I Wanna Save That Light_

_I Can't Escape This Now_

_Unless You Show Me How_

Roughly about 11:30 AM Boston Time

"Damn!" Evan muttered under his breath, while he gritted his teeth at the sight in front of him.

He sat in the passenger seat of the SUV as his driver pulled up just inside the main gate to the warehouse he'd secured three months ago. There was no guard in the guardhouse and the gates were wide open, but the driver hesitated to pull further onto the property based on the sight in front of them.

There had to be just about every squad car in the city parked inside the gates all directed towards the building he'd put Liam and his crew up in. The building where he'd planned to take Eliot for the final stages of his plan to kill the man.

But it wasn't just the police cars as well as the multiple news vans that littered the parking lot that really caused Evan to fume. It was the sight of seeing at least a hundred people in various costumes of every monster he'd ever heard of. There were vampires, Frankenstein's monsters, and even a smattering of werewolves; but by far the majority of monsterous creatures were zombies. There had to be at least 80% of the crowd dedicated to the walking dead.

And they all looked pissed. Not just monster pissed, but totally just pissed off people in monster makeup. The cops and property guards were busy trying to corral all the monsters and they were protesting every single step. There were zombies sitting in cop cars, vans and the like, while there were some just standing around all in flexi-cuffs either ranting at the cops or smiling for the TV cameras.

Among all of the people the cops were working to control, Evan could see five men lined up against the front entrance of the warehouse he'd been headed for and with those men were not city cops, but men in black suits. Could be the FBI, he thought. Or probably worse, they could be military cops, either the Army CID (Army Criminal Investigation Command) or most likely the DCIS (Defense Criminal Investigative Service) which reported directly to the DOD (Department of Defense).

It didn't matter, either way Evan was screwed if they caught sight of him as Evan Spencer Taylor was supposed to be dead. Very few would know that he'd been given a new identity as Evan Chapman, the head of his own private security company in Nevada. If he was recognized, they'd take him in and while he waited for them to figure out his story, Eliot would be in the wind and he couldn't let that happen. He'd come too far to let his brother get away without retribution.

"James, take me back to the house. We need to regroup." Evan said to the driver.

"Yes Sir." The man quickly shifted gears and backed the car away from the scene.

Evan fished his cell out of his suit jacket pocket again putting it to his ear after hitting the speed dial number he wanted. He waited for the line to connect.

"Sir?" Came the voice of his man from the airfield.

"Get to the warehouse and hit it. I don't care who you take out, but make sure all of Liam's men are dead. Seems there are men in black talking to his hired buffoons. I want Liam dead, too. I don't care how or who you take down with them, but they are all dead."

"Understood. Anything else, sir?"

Evan looked over at his driver and knew he could trust the man completely. James was the only man who hadn't let him down yet. "I want every ear to the ground on Dr. Richards and that nurse of his, Katharine Wakefield. And I want Quinn and Spencer. Dr. Richards and that nurse have Spencer and I want them all dead. Collateral damage applies now."

There was a small pause before the man on the other end asked, "You want Spencer dead by any means?"

Evan hated not being able to kill Eliot himself, but right now things had changed. It was now a cleanup mission and he needed to get back to the house and make preparations for getting out of the states. "Yes. I'd prefer to do it myself, but since things have gone to shit, I'll take satisfaction in the fact that he's just dead. I'd like it to be you, if possible Barnes, but bring me their bodies and I'll be happy. I'm heading back to the house now as the warehouse is a hot zone, then I'll be leaving the country until this blows over, so bring them to the other house."

"Yes Sir." The man disconnected.

Evan slowly smiled as he realized that Barnes would do what was necessary and he would not fail him. "James. I want you to join me at the other house. You've been loyal and it's time I gave you a bigger better role than just driving me around."

James smiled as he turned to his boss. "Thank you sir."

Evan grinned as he looked the man up and down. He'd kept the man close to him due to his attraction towards him, but now he was glad the man had also stayed very loyal. "No, thank you, James."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nate and Vance stood together looking out the window keeping the SUVs that were watching them in their own sights. Nate had ended his call with Mikel and she hadn't really told him anything he hadn't already known with the exception that Evan Chapman had brought her in to kill Eliot since he'd gotten away. She was due to land in roughly another hour or so and then she'd find a way to contact him again.

Nate was glad the woman had given him and Detective Bonanno a heads up, but he wasn't happy she'd told the detetive all about Evan Chapman. Granted there wasn't much the state policeman could do now that he completely understood this was ending up being a military affair, but he didn't like someone knowing any of Eliot's secrets outside the team. It couldn't be helped though and he knew Bonanno wouldn't do anything with the information except arm himself in case he was needed in the future.

"So Colonel, how do you propose we elude this surveillance if and when we find out where Eliot is? We can't very well lead them to him and I'm not going to sit back and just let you go get Eliot alone." Nate stated watching the other man closely.

Michael Vance turned an appraising eye towards the mastermind. He took note of the drink in Nate's hand even though it wasn't even lunchtime as of yet, but he knew better than to make a comment on it. There had been a time or two in his life when Eliot Spencer had driven him to drink himself. "First I'm going to wait to be sure we know where they are exactly, Eliot and this woman Katharine. Those two cars don't really other me. They're amateurs really. I'll deal with them when the time comes and then we're going to get to Quinn. Eliot is in relatively safe hands, I'm sure but I don't know what's happening with Quinn. I've had the pleasure of meeting Katharine Wakefield and I can guarantee she isn't a wallflower, so I trust her with Eliot to a point." He paused at remembering his broken nose courtesy of the woman's extremely accurate left hook. "She leaves a permanent impression upon all those she meets."

Matt walked over with Emma and Sophie in tow. Having caught their conversation he couldn't help chuckling at Vance's reply about the woman currently with Eliot. "That's putting it mildly." He stated catching Vance's slight pause. "The woman once broke the Colonel's nose." He said by way of explanation.

Sophie looked slightly surprised. "She did?" That was interesting, she thought.

"When was that?" Emma asked, intrigued with anyone who got the better of Colonel Michael Vance. "I'd love to have seen that."

Vance chuckled along with Matt. "So would my wife." He thought back to that day not too long before he'd lost his best operative when Eliot had disappeared off the grid. "Her brother was killed during a mission that went wrong. We had some bad intel and it led to one of my teams walking right into the hands of the enemy; my best team." He thought better of remarking on the fact his best team was Eliot's team or the fact that Eliot could also be in danger from the same woman who was supposed to be saving him. "Let's just say it was a bad time for all involved, and Katherine didn't take it well at losing her brother and I took the brunt of her anger."

Emma looked at Vance closely; she knew there was something he wasn't saying, but she figured it had to do with national security more than anything else. Getting this much information from the military about a mission was a first and she knew it wasn't easy for either her husband or the Colonel in the jobs they did. "Well, that's just... interesting." She mused. "I'm sure whatever the circumstances were you can't reveal in detail now means that it was the enemy that killed her brother and it was in no way the fault of Uncle Sam, right?"

Vance looked at her as she spoke. He knew she knew just what their lives were like, but it didn't help that he couldn't express his personal feelings. "Let's just say, she had every reason to break my nose and leave it at that, okay Emma?" He responded quietly.

For once in her married life, Emma understood what the man was saying. She slowly nodded at him knowing that his saying that much was the most she'd ever get towards knowing just how hard it was for him or Matt, but especially just how hard it had been for Eliot to do the jobs they'd sworn to do. She didn't have to like their jobs, but she'd married a man knowing all of this so she wasn't going to push him.

"Sure Michael." She responded as she gave him an approving nod before turning to look out the window herself.

Nate took in the small exchange and he realized like Emma had, just how hard both men's lives must be; and he realized there were things that he as a civilian would never understand about Eliot's career. Things he could never fully understand, but the one thing he did get was the fact that all three men were from the same mold. They'd believed in their lives once, and maybe these two men still believed in the long run, but he understood just how much Eliot had wrestled with his own choices.

He took a long pull from the glass in his hand as he noted Sophie's frown at his drinking again. He couldn't help it though, it had been a long night and he wasn't any closer to finding Eliot and he couldn't go through this without some help. After...after they got Eliot back, he'd gladly let her throw every bottle out, but right now he needed something to help him, because only God knew just how afraid he was right now.

Yes, he admitted to himself. He was afraid. Not for himself and not just for Eliot, but for everything. If he failed to get his teammate back, what would happen to the rest of his team, his family? He needed to keep these people close to him, because they were all he had now in this world that made even a little bit of sense. He needed Eliot here because the man kept them all running evenly. He knew just where and when to apply the right kind of pressure to make sure each of them could do their individual jobs, and doing that kept them functioning as a team.

"So, I wonder how Hardison's doing?" He asked as he turned to walk over to the hacker and check on his progress.

Matt and Vance both turned and followed the man over and soon all three were immersed in Hardison speak as to what he was doing to hack into the burner phone account Quinn had for the cell he'd purchased in a small village not far from Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Since it was a foreign purchase from a probable street vendor it was almost impossible to trace. Almost, Hardison had said with a smile as he'd tracked the phone through several accounts before he'd fnally found the one he suspected belonged to Quinn. He was currently running it to track all the calls and texts the phone had made or received in the last 24 hours, but it was taking awhile since it was a burner.

Most calls and texts fell off with each new call or text received and while not impossible it was harder to dig through the cyber stuff out there to get to what he needed. He was hopeful though, that he'd have something in the next three hours and that was the first good news Nate and the others could hope for at the moment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You know, our mother was killed by a drunk driver." Emma said softly to Sophie who was standing next to her while they both looked out the window at the two SUVs still parked below their building.

Sophie was slightly surprised by the information that the woman was offering up, but she kew better than to comment on that fact. Instead she stayed where she was and didn't look over at Emma. "I wondered if something like that may have happened."

Emma was the first to break and she looked up at Sophie in mild surprise. "You did?"

Sophie turned to look at her with a small smile on her lips. "Eliot drinks beer, but he won't touch the hard stuff very often. Not once have I seen him take more than one drink. We once had a job where he had to get someone out of play and he took him out drinking, but he didn't really enjoy it. He had the worst hangover that next day and he let something slip about never doing that again."

Emma slowly nodded in understanding. "Eliot doesn't drink without a reason." She paused again as she thought about what she was saying here; what she was giving up about her brother. "I'd like to ask you not to let anyone else know you know this, especially Eliot but we not only lost our mother; we lost a brother and a baby sister and it was hard on all of us, but it was really the hardest on our father and in turn on Eliot. Our father turned to drinking to battle his own demons at losing his wife and kids and Eliot had to become the man of the house. If it wasn't for Eliot I'd never have been able to go to college and our father's business would have gone under long ago."

Sophie felt for this woman standing here. She knew everyone had a history and she knew it was always something bad, but this had to be really hard on these two. She remembered how Eliot always frowned when Nate poured a drink to battle his own things and he'd even told her in her letter that she needed to help Nate. "Eliot tries hard to keep Nate away from the bottle. No one really knows this either, but Nate lost his son to cancer when the boy was about 8. He was a good man working for a insurance company that he'd given his all for and they'd refused to save his son wth an experimental treatment that is now relatively common in most cases similar to his son, Sam's condition."

Emma noddd again. "I wondered what was in his life to lead him to have a drink." She paused as she returned her eye back to the window. "Nate kind of reminds me of my..our father. I mean before our father became a drunk, he was a good man. He...he really was. He's got cancer now too; and it 's probably from the drinking. He probably doen't have a lot of time left and while I've made my peace with him over his failures, he... well he and Eliot... haven't exactly mended fences." She thought about her father back in Oklahoma. "He is a good man, he just let the drinking, take the man we once knew away from us, and he and Eliot said things they probably both regret. I'm...I'm just thinking that maybe Nate needs to know how much he could lose if he... well..." She turned back to look at Sophie. "It's not my place to say this and I don't know Nate, but Eliot does and I know Eliot wouldn't be here with him or this team if he didn't like the man, so maybe... I don't know... just maybe he needs to know that he could lose more of his family if he doesn't stop."

Sophie wanted to tell the woman it wasn't her business, but she knew it kind of was. Eliot was her business and by extension so was Nate as a part of Eliot's new family. "I know and believe me, we've both tried." She turned her back to the window to watch Nate across the room. "He means well, and he tries so hard to do the right thing, but sometimes things just get away from him."

"Sophie, everyone has things they don't want to let be known, you know. We all have baggage. We all have a bad home life, a bad experience, bad choices, all kinds of things; but it's those things that define us. Those things that make us who and what we chose to become. We can either let them turn us away from the good and lead us down the bad road, or we can take those things and use them to make ourselves better. Eliot had been trying all his life to find out how to do just that, and well, I've only known each of you for barely a day, but I know you are all good people, especially Nate. And he needs to know just how good he is, too. Eliot will always feel he's a bad man no matter what we tell him, but Nate...well, he _is_ a really good man and he needs to stay that way, because if he can stay the man I know he is deep down, then maybe, just maybe he can show Eliot just what kind of a man he is too, deep down."

Sophie smiled at that. "I never really thought about that, but you're right. All of us Parker, Hardison, me, and Eliot, we've all just been doing what we're good at no matter who it hurt, but since we were brought together by Nate, we've learned a bit about how good we really all are, and you're right. That's because of Nate." She sighed as she saw the man lift his drink to drain the glass. "I think, for everyone's sake, I think maybe it should be you to explain what you've just told me to Nate. Before he pours himself another drink." She said with a nod towards the man as he was heading over to the kitchen to do just that.

Emma smiled weakly. "Got it; but just in case, maybe you could keep an eye on us. Just in case I have to break his nose."

Sophie laughed and nodded as she let Emma quietly thank her then walk over to the man in question. She couldn't stop the laugh that escaped when she saw Emma reach out and take the bottle of Irish whiskey from Nate and turn to pour the alcohol down the kitchen sink as a stunned Nate could only watch in silence as the woman then reached over and took his glass to drop in the sink. The woman was brave she thought.

Emma then reached out and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and handed them to Nate with some muffled words Sophie couldn't hear as she steered him over to the dining table where she pushed him into a seat and then she sat down next to him with her own pen and paper.

Nate looked over at Sophie with a confused expression that only intensified Sophie's laughter causing the others in the room to wonder what was going on. Sophie could only stand there and shake her head as Emma refused to allow the man to escape. She had no idea what Emma was instructing Nate to do, but it was funny because after that one look, Nate bowed his head to the paper and began writing and she watched in amazement as soon he was totally engrossed in whatever task he'd been assigned. Sophie could only wonder at just how much Emma Spencer would be able to get accomplished towards the 'keep Nate from drinking campaign', but given the sight in front of her, she was beginning to suspect that maybe, just maybe the woman might just have the will to succeed.

Maybe if they put Emma in charge of this job, they'd have Eliot safe and sound back home within the day, because the woman definitely had the strength and determination to get what she wanted.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Quinn slowly took in the fact that there was a deep buzzing noise reverberating though out his brain and he wasn't sure if he had a head full of bees or what. It felt like something was really doing a number on his brain. He slowly forced one eye open as he tried to focus on his surroundings. He almost yelped when a bald head came into his line of sight.

"Oh good, you're awake. I was beginning to wonder if you'd sleep through everything." The bald head said as it bobbed up and down around him.

"What the fu-" He began when a hand was suddenly clamped over his mouth.

"No! No bad language, mister." Quinn turned to find the owner of the hand was a small girl no more than ten years old he was guessing. She had long curly yellow blonde hair and a large blue ribbon sat on top of her head where her hair was pulled back in a tight pony tail.

She was smiling at him and slowly she moved her hand. "We don't say that word. Mamma doesn't like it."

"Ma...mamma?" He was confused. Who was this? What the hell was going on here?

The bald head came back in view just behind the little girl. "Mamma is my sister Libby. And this is Missy, my neice." The man moved the little girl away from Quinn. "Missy, go get your mamma and tell her Mr. Quinn is awake and we can get him out of here now."

"Okay, Uncle." The little girl skipped away. She actually skipped, Quinn realized as he watched her leave through the back door where he could see the alley just outside.

He slowly looked back at the bald head to see that now there were more features coming into his line of sight. The man attached to the head was young, probably no more than 30, but he looked like he'd led a hard life. He had a long scar running down the left side of his face that began at his ear and ended just under his jaw.

"What's...where am I?" Quinn managed to get out and he took in the fact that he was sitting on the floor of a room that looked like it was in the process of being renovated. His brain frantically tried to remember what had happened. Three men, guns, Mack, crap. Okay, he remembered landing at the airfield and being attacked by the three guys, then he'd managed to get away in the jeep, but he'd tried calling Vance for help.

Was this someone Vance sent to help him? "Did Vance send you?" He asked as he tried to pull himelf up into a sitting position.

The man quickly reached out to help him sit up by bracing his back against the wall and Quinn took in the hastily wrapped bandage covering his left upper thigh. He'd been shot, he remembered that too. He'd killed at least two of the men in his escape, but he didn't remembered how he'd gotten out of his car.

"Vance? Who's Vance?" The bald man asked. The man reached behind him and pulled a canteen into Quinn's view. After popping off the lid, he handed it to him. Quinn took it and didn't give it a second thought as he drank from it greedily.

"Vance. I called him for help. Didn't he send you?" Quinn responded after drinking his fill.

"No. I was sent by a friend of a friend to find you." The man watched Quinn. He didn't know anything other than the fact he was supposed to find this man and get him to safety. They'd need to leave soon in order to do that. "We tracked you to this store you parked behind and just as you passed out on your car horn, we got you out and in here long enough to bandage your leg. We need to get moving now before whoever is after you finds you. You've been out about a half hour and Libby was beginning to worry you'd lost too much blood. She's the nurse and she did the basic triage. The bullet exited your leg, which is good, but you were really bleeding out a lot, so she wanted to be sure you were stabilized before we moved you."

Quinn looked at the man. "Who sent you?"

"I told you, a friend. Just know we're the good guys, and we're here to help. My sister, Libby is a doctor and me, well I'm.. let's just say I'm the muscle. Name's Eric by the way. Now we know your name is Quinn and you're here to help a friend of your own, and our friend knows your friend Eliot. He wants to help you help him. So we're all good, we all want to help you and Eliot and we're here to get you safe so you can do just that, okay?"

Quinn just stared at the man. What the hell was this? No one just showed up and offered to help like this. Well, no one unless they were Kat or friends of Kat's maybe. "Do you know Kat?" He asked as he took another long pull from the canteen and allowed the man to pull him to his feet.

He winced in pain as he leaned heavily on Eric, who pulled him along. He realized that in the space of the explanation he'd been given and his questions, the man had succeeded in getting him upright and sort of walking out of the building towards the waiting blue paneled van that had a large picture of a bouquet of flowers on the side and a sign that read _Bloom's bloomin' blooms._

Okay he was being rescured by a man with a bald head and a scar who owned a van from a flower store? And also brought a child on the rescue? What was going on here?

Eric helped him inside the van to settle him on the seat behind the driver who was a petite woman of about 35 with long frizzy blonde hair that was as wild as the looks she was giving the two of them. "This is Libby, Quinn, my sister and your sort of doctor for the time being. And I don't know anyone or anything named Kat either. We were sent by Albert, who is a friend of Eliot's. Now, Missy will be keeping an eye on you while Libby drives you to her place. I have to ditch your jeep so who ever is looking for you goes the wrong way." Eric strapped the seatbelt around him and Missy jumped onto the bench seat to sit next to him.

"It's okay, Mr. Quinn. My mamma is the bestest and you'll be just fine." The girl said as she reached over to take the blanket her mother handed her and she folded it awkwardly over Quinn's lap. "We don't want anyone to see you leg, so keep this over your lap, Mr. Quinn."

The girl was behaving like a doctor herself, Quinn thought. And the mister stuff was beginning to grate on his head. The buzzing was coming back again as he settled himself against the back of the seat and allowed the little girl to take the canteen and then as she tucked the blanket around him, he slowly felt the van shift gears and head off in some unknown direction.

Whoever these people were, someone who knew Eliot had sent them. So they probably could be trusted, but he found it hard to let his guard down. The one thought he kept going back to was how the hell did Eliot or his friend know he needed help, unless said friend was Nate Ford?

But if these people knew Nate, surely they knew about Vance and Whitmore. Maybe not, maybe Ford hadn't had time to fill them in. Suddenly he felt like he was sliding off the seat and he knew he was about to pass out again. Whatever was going on here, he just hoped he truly was safe, because he knew he wasn't going to be able to do anything to prevent an attack if they were not the good guys.

His last sight was of Missy sitting next to him holding his hand in hers while she made sure the blanket covered him. "It's okay Mr. Quinn. We'll be home soon and you will be safe, I promise."

He thought okay, fine. I'm just gonna go with this. Besides who would send a ten year old girl named Missy to kill him? At that thought he smiled grimly, cause he knew anything was possible.


	34. Chapter 34

AN: Thank you everyone for all the reviews and follows and favorites! You make me love doing this! So, like all good things, this must come to an end. There are only about three to five more chapters left and we will be saying goodbye to each other, but hopefully there may be a sequel in the works (hint hint). I'm busy working on a Live Journal prompt for Christmas that just might somehow end up over here later on so be on the lookout. I've also got an original story of my very own in the works and will update on that later. Wish me luck!

Chapter Thirty-Four

_When You Feel My Heat_

_Look Into My Heart_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

_It's Where My Demons Hide_

Roughly abut 11:30 on 09/12/2011 Monday

"You know you can't keep me here against my will." Eliot insisted as he stood just inside the bedroom doorway eyeballing Kat while she was in the kitchen making their lunch.

His vision was starting to spin and he was working hard to keep Kat on an even kiel as she moved between the counter and refrigerator. He knew if he let her slide off the planet she'd be pissed at him, so he was putting his best effort in keeping her upright and standing, which was damn hard. The woman didn't seem to stand still for long; it was like she knew he was trying his damnedest to keep her still, so she was working against him.

Kat turned to face him, smiling wickedly at him and he knew she was enjoying his suffering just a little too much for his liking. Yep; the woman was doing this on purpose, damn her.

"You're about to either pass out or throw up right now, so I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of having this argument again today." She stood there her arms crossed giving him that look all women seemed to master in regards to men. That look Eliot had seen two many times.

"I'm not going to pass out." He grumbled at her as he moved to stand up straighter to prove his point. "I'm just tired."

He thought it was some female breeding thing as she continued to look at him. His mother had had that look and Emma had it; and what's more most of the women Eliot had known had that look down pat. The look that told him and all men that they didn't believe a word they said and were just going to humor them. "Right. "She mocked him as she grinned now. "You've barely been off all the machines for three full days and you just started eating solid food yesterday. You hardly can make it to the bathroom by yourself; and I'm not about to let you leave here until I can trust that I won't find you passed out two feet past the front porch."

Eliot's eyes narrowed as he forced himself to remain upright and not sway. He wasn't succeeding too well he knew, but the woman was beginning to really piss him off; again. "As soon as I find some real pants and shoes I'm out of here and there is no way you can stop me." He looked down at the scrubs she'd given him that morning after he'd allowed her to help him clean up a little.

He liked the woman, he really did, but there was no way he was going to let her give him a sponge bath without reacting to her, and she wasn't letting him stand in the shower on his own, so they'd compromised. She'd cleaned his top half and he'd done the rest himself while she waited just outside the closed bathroom door.

Kat had removed him from the pluerovac three days ago just after he'd gone 24 hours with no major breathing problems and he'd convinced her to let him sit up and slowly start to move around. He needed to get his body under his own control because he knew he couldn't depend on help when he needed to find Evan and make sure his team was safe. Eliot knew that this wasn't over even if they were safe for the moment. They were in a remote area with no way to contact anyone if Evan were somehow able to find them, and with him being sidelined, he knew Kat couldn't fight Evan.

Eliot knew that the woman had done something to the Doctor; but he hadn't ask her since that first time in the ambulance. He knew she'd taken care of the man and while that didn't bother him in the least, he wasn't sure she could take on Evan. She may have had help with the doctor and she may not have, but Evan was a different story. Eliot knew that safety was a fleeting thing and just how safe they were could change at any moment, so he needed to get his body to listen to his brain. He had to be ready and after everything Kat had done to help him, he wasn't going to let anything get to her, no matter how mad she made him.

"Oh don't worry, I won't stop you, because like I said, you probably won't make it far before you fall down and can't get up without my help." Kat turned back to the cutting board, where she'd been carving the leftover ham that she'd made for her dinner the night before. She didn't notice as Eliot, while he was still slightly dizzy, had managed to move up not far behind her. She was in the process of making them some sandwiches and was totally oblivious to the man's movements until she quickly turned back with the knife in hand. "Besides-" She gasped as she suddenly felt the knife being pulled from her hand and it clattered to the floor as the hand that once held the weapon was now imprisoned in Eliot's.

He reached out and with a speed she couldn't believe he was capable of, he managed to capture both of wrists and bring them behind her to hold her trapped between his chest and his hands around her holding her hands in a very strong grip behind her back. They stood there, him grinning at the surprise on her face before he brought his lips down to capture her mouth.

The kiss was hard and deliberate and it was meant to let Kat know that Eliot was not weak, but instead all it conveyed was the fact that he wanted her. Wanted her more than he'd ever wanted any other woman; even Aimee he thought with mild surprise. He pushed against her which only pushed her against the kitchen counter pinnng her there between the cabinet and his body.

She didn't struggle, she was too surprised at his speed and ability to overtake her so deftly. She could do nothing but moan as she felt the man holding her so close. She pressed her lips back to his opening them slightly to let another moan escape; and it was then his tongue moved over her lips to caress the inner reaches of her warm mouth. She felt his breath hitch ever so slightly, but it was enough for reality to snap her back.

She pulled away quickly as she stared up at him. She could feel his heart beating against hers, and while she didn't notice any change in his breathing she could feel him shaking ever so slightly. She tried to pull her hands free, but he held tight. "Eliot?" She whispered with uncertainty. "Are... you can't be doing this." She managed to get out.

The man just looked at her with a quirky grin on those damn lips of his. She was mesmerized by them. They were wet from the kiss and she couldn't help but stare at them in her fascination. "No maybe not, but I'm going to. If I fall down, at least I'll have the pleasure of pulling you down with me." And with that he bent down and captured her mouth once again.

He felt the dizziness ebbing away as he let his brain stop working to fight it. He closed his eyes and just took in a deep breath from Kat's green apple hair and he worked until he was able to get her to open that damned mouth of hers again. This time he didn't allow her to pull away as he moved one hand to hold both of her wrists in one large hand while his free hand moved to cup her neck holding her close to him. He ran his fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck and drank in every thing about her.

The way her hair was so soft and smelled, to the way her body seemed to fit perfectly against him. Her wrists were so small, he marveled at the way they fit in just one of his. He moved his tongue throughout her mouth taking in every curve and angle. He moved back to deepen the kiss as he pulled her even tighter against him. His free hand now moving to reach back and cup her ass.

As soon as his fingers moved over her backside, that was when she gave up fighting what was happening between them and instead of trying to keep her body up against the counter to avoid his wounds, she instead pushed into him hard. She pushed up against him causing him to react to her. As he felt his body's instant reaction to just the touching of body to body, he felt himself moaning in response to her.

He slowly released her wrists and was pleased to feel her wrap her hands around him pulling him closer and closer, until she managd to move a hand between their bodies and down to move over his erection. He managed to hide the gasp at her touching him, but he could not stop himelf from now moving his free hand to gently push up the tiny black tee shirt she wore until his hands were moving over her bare skin. He pulled back from her just long enough to pull her shirt over her head as she moved to allow him to remove it.

Just as he tossed the shirt over the ham sitting on the counter, he felt a slight tug and painful response in his chest to the movement, and he wasn't as successful this time in hiding these small painful twinges he'd been having all day.

The mood instantly changed when she realized he was in pain. "Damn it, Spencer! You're in pain and you're trying to hide it, aren't you?!" She pulled out of his grasp and reached for her shirt, but before she could put it back on, Eliot grabbed it again and this time he tossed it over his shoulder towards the living room.

"I may be in some pain..." He winced again at another stab of pain in his chest, but it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier. The pain, while it hurt, was not the worst pain he'd ever felt. He knew it was just his body reacting to his trying to push it beyond it's limits. "I'm fine, trust me." He managed a small grin as he bent to try and recapture her mouth.

"Oh no you don't. Not this time." She avoided his descending lips and tried to push him gently, but firmly away from her, but he didn't budge. She looked up at him as she tried again to get him to move away. "Move your ass, Spencer!" She was getting mad at the man for lying to her as well as getting her this worked up. "Move!"

Eliot just stood there pushing even harder aganst her to keep her in his hold. He didn't try to grab her hands or restrain her, but he wasn't moving either. And he was just smiling that damned irritating grin of his. She reached up and tried to get a hold of his shoulders so she could move him, but he anticipated her move and twisted his body slightly and dipped down to suddenly grab her and toss her awkwardly over his shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy? You're gonna bust all of your stitches and start bleeding! Put me down!" She started to struggle against the hand he was using to hold her tightly to him as he turned to walk towards the bedroom. She watched the kitchen moving farther away with each step.

"Stop struggling and I won't hurt myelf. I thought you wanted me to get better?" He mocked her as he reached up his free hand and gave her butt a firm slap.

"Stop that! And of course I want you to get better, but not by having sex as soon as you're able to stand up longer than a minute at a time!" Damn it, she thought That's all she could think to say, but just damn it over and over in her head. He really made her mad right now.

"Well, that's just it, I don't plan on standing too much longer and I'm hoping I can talk you into doing most of the work here, sweetheart." He grinned as even though he felt the pain of carrying the woman, he was finding it funny that she was having an internal struggle to avoid hurting him. She wanted to fight him because he was hurt and realistically, he shouldn't even be thinking of sex right now, but she was also trying not to fight him, because she either didn't want to add to his pain or she was wanting him as much as he wanted her. Eliot knew it was probably a bit of both, but he was so hopng the later was what won out in her decision to restrain herself.

"Eliot Spencer! When I get the chance I am so gonna get you back for this!" She yelled as he made it to the bed and he none too gently let her fall from his grasp and land on the bed.

He smiled at her as he slowly moved to pull the scrub top over his head and toss it aside. He reached out to gently touch the bandages that covered three spots on his chest. The bullet wounds and the pleurovac wound. The holes were all stitched under the padding, but while they were padded he knew that any accidental bump to any of them would cause bleeding and he so didn't really want to bleed out. But he also wanted this damn woman more than any other woman he'd ever been with. He reached for the drawstring of the pants and pulled the loop free, but before he could hook his fingers into the material, he felt Kat's hands over his.

"Please Eliot." She suddenly was up on her knees looking up into his eyes as she held onto his hands. "Please, don't." She was looking at him with worry in her eyes. "I can't let you do this, even... even if... I want you to."

Eliot looked deep into her beautiful green eyes and he couldn't help how his body continued to react to her. "I want to." He pulled his hands from hers and captured her face in them. He bent down and gently kissed her forehead and then rested his forehead against hers. "I want to do this more than anything I've ever done in my life and while I know I shouldn't, I can't control my body at all here. I've got... I've never... damn it, but I want you and I can't control my reaction to you anymore." He pulled back and stared into her eyes. "I need to do this. Not just because of my body, but because I need to know I'm..." He trailed off as he tried to let her know that these last few days he'd been feeling useless, not like himself.

He'd been hurt a lot in his life and he always got back up and fought through the pain. He was Eliot Spencer and he didn't let someone fight for him. He needed to know that at least one thing here he would be able to control.

"You need this because you're who you are." She reached up and put a hand gently over his heart close to the bandages but yet not touching his wounds. "I know and while I understand that, I really do, I just... I'm just scared...for you."

He moved one hand from her face and reached for her hand and he moved her hand to cover the bandages. "These will heal Kat. I will heal. You've done your job; you've kept me alive and now I need you to understand that while I appreciate it, and even love you for it, I need you to also understand who I am. You know how your brother was and you know how Quinn is. We're all the same; we need to be in control of our own bodies and we have to heal quickly. We have to be able to move because we know letting someone take care of us for too long could get others killed. It's not just a military thing, Kat. It's not even a soldier thing. It's a... I can't explain it, it's just a thing." He covered her hand and kept it pressed to him. "I may bleed, I may have trouble breathing, but I will live, I promise you that. I'm not going to die just because I'm gonna make love to you, darlin'."

Kat looked into his eyes. No, she did understand. It was the same for her. Even though she knew her husband was dead and couldn't hurt her, it had been a long time before she'd been able to give up control over herself to others. It had taken years for her to trust anyone to watch over her when she couldn't. And even though she had given up that control, it was only to three people she truly trusted. Sam and Bella were two and Quinn was the third. She knew what Eliot meant, and what he was saying in just letting her take care of him these past few days.

"You're wrong, it is a soldier thing, but not like a soldier that belongs to Uncle Sam. It's a person who needs to fight just to survive the things we all carry with us everyday. We all fight battles Eliot. Everyday in everyway and I know what you mean. I don't trust easy either, so I get it." She pulled her hand away and reached for the sides of his scrub pants. As she worked her fingers inside the waistband and began to slowly pull them down for him, she replied, "I'm going to do all the work then, that much you can give up, but I fully expect you to fullfill your obligations here Spencer or you will be in even more trouble." She slowly grinned up at him as she pushed until he was able to move to let the pants drop to the floor on their own. He wasn't wearing any underwear, so he just stood there until she reached out and pulled him into a deep kiss and worked her way off the bed to turn and mov util she had him down on the bed in her place. "I mean it Spencer, I really do. And if you end up trying to die on me for letting you do this, then I'm gonna kick your ass."

Eliot smiled as he watched her undo the button on her jeans and let them fall to the floor next to his pants. Before she could reach behind her to undo her bra he was up and helping her with the remainder of her clothing. "Don't worry, I'm not going to die."

While she felt Eliot move to take one nipple into his mouth, she smiled over his bent head. "No, I don't think you will. You're too damn stubborn." And with that she couldn't keep her mind on anything, but what the man was doing to her with his tongue. Damn it, she thought once again. This man was going to be her undoing and it was in that instant, she realized something else that totally took her breath away.

She had taken it upon herself to save this man, but in this moment as she felt all her inhibitions fall away, she realized that it wasn't her doing the saving anymore. No, she finally let everything fall to the wayside as it finally hit her; she wasn't saving Eliot anymore, it was Eliot who was now saving her.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

Don't Get Too Close

It's Dark Inside

It's Where My Demons Hide

It's Where My Demons Hide

-The End-

Same time same day

"Besides what?" Eliot questioned, tilting his head curiously at Kat.

Kat, startled away from the images she'd just had in her head, shook herself and turned to look confusedly towards Eliot. He was still standing in the doorway of the bedroom watching her. He was still wearing the blue scrubs she'd given him that morning and he was still leaning slightly on the door frame in an effort to keep himself upright. She'd just had the most amazingly vivid image of the man, and... oh, crap, she was more embarrassed than a teen girl fantasizing about the school quarterback.

What in the world had she been thinking? She could feel her face flaming as she turned a deep shade of pink and she couldn't stop it from happening. She'd just turned back around at his griping about being cooped up and she'd taken one look at him... and she'd had the best and most embarrassing daydream of them...together. All the way together.

"What? Nothing. Forget it." She quickly turned back to the cutting board so she could try to desperately hide her beet red face from his all to seeing eyes. Those damn blue eyes of his saw everything and she so did not need him seeing what she'd just fantasized; especially what she'd been thinking about him.

Eliot felt slightly dizzy, but knew he was getting it semi under control; so when he moved from where he stood to walk over to her, he hid the fact well that he was still shaky on his feet. He reached her and carefully reached around her to grasp her hand holding the carving knife in his own grip. He gently pulled the knife from her hand and turned her to face him.

"Are you okay?" He asked as she tried hard to avoid looking up at him. She felt like a blushing teenager with him standing there so close to her and that only made her more embarrassed.

"I'm fine, Spencer." She pulled her hand away a bit too roughly and turned away to walk back to the refrigerator for the mayo. As she reached in and pulled the jar from the shelf, she turned slightly to look at him, and she was surprised to see that Eliot had moved to stand in her place at the cutting board and he was now doing the carving of the ham.

He was still swaying a bit, he really wasn't that great yet at hiding it from her, but for the most part he was doing a good job of standing upright by himself. She carefully set the jar next to the carving board within his reach and watched as he used the same carving knife to scoop some mayo out of the jar and spread over a couple slices of the bread.

Kat couldn't help the slow smile that spread over her lips as she watched him work. He was really nice to watch. He worked with such efficiency that no matter how much pain he was in, it told Kat everything she really needed to know about the man. He pushed everything he felt down so he could do what he had to do. Just like her brother had, or how Quinn did; or how she did. She'd learned from the best, and she'd discovered that they had learned from the best too. She pushed so much crap down and out of sight, she tried hard to forgot about everything she'd gone through in her life.

There was always someone out there more important than herself and she always put herself on the back burner to make sure she did what she needed to do. She wished sometimes she could be the one front and center getting the attention of a nice looking man, but she'd made peace with the fact she'd never give her heart to someone ever again. Or at least she thought she had.

After meeting Eliot Spencer and fighting to save him, she realized she'd forgotten who was doing the saving and who exactly was being saved here. Just like in her fantasy, she realized that this man had slowly, but effectively wheedled his way under her guard and now he not only had her wrapped around his little finger, but he also had a tight hold on her heart; damn him.

She blamed herself for letting him in. No, she blamed those damn sky blue eyes of his. Him and his eyes had taken her down with just one look. Damnit, Eliot Spencer. You are so getting your butt kicked when this is all over. Right after I kick my own for letting you in.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Quinn jerked as he felt the now familiar weight of Missy as she threw her small body on the couch next to where he was half sitting while resting his leg. He'd grown tired of being cooped up in bed the last two days, so Libby had gratiously allowed him the supreme priviledge of moving from the bed to the couch. He was so lucky, he thought with a wry smile.

He was pretending to sleep as the little girl tried desperately to gain his attention. During the last couple days he had learned that Libby was a widow and worked as an ER physician's assistant at night at the local county hospital while her brother Eric ran the family flower store during the day. Their apartment was located directly over their store near downtown Boston.

Normally Missy would be in school, but she'd been allowed to stay home the last few days to help with Quinn's care while her Uncle worked and her mother slept during the day.

Quinn hadn't really gotten their routine down till Saturday when he'd actually been awake the longest since arriving at their apartment. He'd lost a lot of blood after finding the bullet in his leg had nicked an artery and he'd been lucky that Eric and Libby had found him when they had. Another two or three minutes and he'd have bled out; he owed them his life.

He'd tried to find out who Albert was, but the couple had been pretty close-mouthed when he'd asked how this mysterious man knew how to find him. Quinn put it down to the fact whoever this Albert was, he most likely knew what kind of life Quinn led; if he knew Eliot, he must know what the score was.

Quinn had thought about contacting Vance and Whitmore, but decided against it right now. He knew they'd be upset with him, but he couldn't let them run after Kat. He'd been calling Kat's phone every half hour, but it kept saying that the party he was trying to contact was outside the plan area, whatever the hell that meant; and he couldn't trust Vance or Whitmore to not scare her into running. If he couldn't contact her to tell her about them, she would take Eliot to ground and not even he would be able to find them. Kat was good at what she did, and he knew she'd go deep under to protect her charge even if it was Eliot Spencer; even if she knew all about Eliot and his involvment in Luke's death. Quinn needed to get back on his feet and take them to her, but that just wasn't possible right now.

He'd had a lot of questions for Eric and Libby, and between the three of them, they'd learned as much as possible about each other that thy were willing to share over the past couple of days and Quinn knew he could trust them. Eric had promised that tomorrow he would take Quinn to Vermont if he wasn't running a fever and Libby approved for him to travel. When Quinn had told them Kat was a nurse, they felt better about leaving him with her once they got him there; and in truth Quinn didn't like dragging them or Missy into this whole thing. He didn't want Evan to hunt them down and since the couple hadn't given him any info on Albert, Quinn didn't know if they were even aware of Evan Chapman.

He sighed deeply as he felt Missy pick herself up and throw her small body back down on the couch in another attempt to get his attention. This time she'd came dangerousy close to his leg with her elbow and he knew he couldn't feign sleep any longer or the child just might get the idea to torture him by actually launching her next body toss directly onto his wound, so he turned over to face the girl.

He nearly yelped when he opened his eyes and found the child's deep green eyes staring directly into his. She was so close he could feel her breath on his face now and he couldn't help feeling that either he was losing his touch, or this child was going to grow up to be a freakin' ninja princess.

"Are you awake, Mr. Quinn?" The little monster asked as she continued to stare into his eyes.

Yep, he thought, freakin' ninja princess, for sure. He slowly smiled as she continued to stare at him. "No." He muttered, pretending to be grumpy with the girl.

Missy narrowed her eyes at him and he couldn't help the laugh that burst from him at the girl's struggle with whether he was being honest with her or not. She slowly smiled as she realized he was teasing her and she pulled back from him.

"You're funny, Mr. Quinn." She got up off the edge of the couch where she'd been resting her knees to get closer to his face. "Mamma said to tell you she has lunch ready and you should get up off you're behind and walk to the table so your leg doesn't get stiff if you expect to travel tomorrow." She smiled at him and then she reached for his hands and began pulling him up. "Come on lazy bones."

"Hey what happened to Mr?" He'd tried several times to get the girl to stop calling him Mister, but she'd been adament that her mamma wouldn't like that, so he'd given up.

The girl ignored him as she worked to get him up on the crutches she had with her. "Uncle Eric said it was okay to call you by your name now that you're my friend, but I don't know your first name, so he said lazy bones would do for now." She looked up at him with serious written all over her face, until she broke out that smile of hers. "Do you even have a first name? Uncle calls you Quinn."

Quinn couldn't help the smile that this girl brought out of him. He hadn't smiled this much since... well since before losing Luke. "Quinn is the only name I go by, so just Quinn is fine." He struggled across the room towards the kitchen where he could see Libby putting something on the table and wathing their progress.

"Okay, just Quinn. Well, it's lunchtime. Uncle Eric is coming up too cause he wants to talk too you. He said his friend, Mr. Albert would be coming by today to talk to you, so you gotta be up and around."

Quinn's smile at her just Quinn comment slowly subsided as he took in that little tidbit. Th mysterious benefactor was coming over to visit. How nice. Maybe now he'd get some real answers.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Patrick Bonanno had witnessed many strange things during his police career, but as he looked down at the age enhanced photograph that his CSI guy, David had faxed over to him, he realized this was probably going to one he would never forget. He really didn't know for sure wht he'd expected when David had finally found a partial finger amongst the human remains that had been blown up at Eliot's place, but this had never even crossed his mind.

David and Les, the medical examiner had sifted through every single piece of evidence and even though they already knew the remains were supposed to belong to a male relative of Eliot's, this file he held in his hands was not what they'd expected to find; so the two had worked tirelessly the last few days and discovered there had been some kind of computer mix-up.

The computer had given them the results of the man being Daniel Thomas Wright, possibly Eliot's long missing grandfather, but when David had tested the fingerprint he came up with someone else entirely. So they had ran new tests on all the samples and started from scratch.

The person in the morgue was in no way related to Eliot, but he was related to one Viola Watson-Wright, her brother to be exact; and Viola had been the name of the woman that had been married to Daniel Thomas Wright. The woman had supposedly been killed and as far as the detective knew, it was possible her husband, Daniel had been her killer.

None of that was really all that earth shaking considering there was nothing the detective could do; but the photo that David had pulled from Huntsville prison when Daniel Wright had served time for robbery there, well, now that was something else entirely. David had ran the photo through an age enhancing program and sent the results to Patrick and it was this picture that had Bonanno more confused than ever.

He picked up his notebook to find the phone number he needed. He had only spoken to the man the day of Eliot's disappearance, but now that he had this picture he knew he'd need to have a talk with the man again. It was kind of ironic that a man who was first thought to be dead and thought to be Eliot's lost grandfather was actually in fact very much alive and living across the street from the guy using the name Albert Wilson. He was Eliot's elderly neighbor who had called in the crime at Eliot's; and Patrick would bet money he didn't have that Marion Wilson was in fact the not so dead Viola Watson-Wright.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Matt was getting more than just angry at this wild goosechase he was on. He'd been all over the major parts of the greater Boston area looking for Quinn. Hardison hadn't been able to give them anymore on where to fnd the man, but he had been able to locate the number that Quinn had been getting calls and texts from that they suspected was for his friend Kat.

The only problem now was Hardison couldn't tract that phone because it was not working. The phone was out of the range of his tracking abilities and so they'd gone back to tracking Quinn's trail from the airfield where he'd landed. Vance and Matthew both, were right now following the same trail they suspected Quinn had taken from the airfield in his escape, but once they exited the freeway the trail ended and there were too many possible places he could have ended up.

Nate and Mykel were working one end of the city, while Emma and Sophie were working somewhere in between the two of them. Hardison and Parker were back at the airfield using the satallite communications to try and track Evan's trail after they'd managed to find a cell phone that had been dropped by someone who appeared to be sent by him.

They'd been able to disable the two SUV's that had been posted at the bar to surveil them, and right now, Evan was probably just realizing his men were missing. The six men split between the two cars were currently on a military transport to DC where the DOD had a few questions for them. Vance had called in some help and between the two men and the reinforcements, they'd managed to subdue all with no attention drawn to anyone. Eliot would hae been proud of them, Matt thought with a smile.

That had been last Friday and they'd started working on tracking Quinn after that by heading to the airfield they knew he'd landed at. The field was abandoned by the time they arrived, but they'd found blood and after a very thorough search they'd located the cell phone. The man who had owned the phone must have thought a lot of himself, because his phone was loaded with selfies. Matt wasn't sure what was worse, the fact that the guy was obviously very much in love with himself, or the fact that the man also had photos of Quinn and Eliot on the phone. It was a hit list and they had no clue if the man had been successful.

They'd found some blood in the grassy area and lots of tracks in the dirt road, but that was it. So here they were tracking every street and every building within a ten mile radius of the highway. It had taken them all of Saturday and Sunday and here there were back at it today, Monday; and Matt was getting really frustrated that they couldn't find Quinn who was the only one who could help them find Eliot.

He was so going to strangle the man when they did find him. Even if he was already dead, he wa still gonna strangle his corpse. The man was a giant pain in the ass for keeping Eliot's locaton frm them and Matt knew that while Eliot's team was having a hard time, it in no way compared to the torture Emma was going through. Vance had given Hardison code clearance to search the military satallites that would give them surveillance information and pictures of the airfield, but they hadn't been able to find the Jeep that they now knew Quinn had taken when he'd left the airfield. They didn't have clear enough images of the other men, but they did have the vehicles and Hardison had worked hard all weekend tracking them down to the last one, none had been found. Once they'd left the airfield it was as if they'd all vanished.

Matt heaved a huge sigh as Vance steered their SUV down the deserted alley they'd already been down probably ten times. This was useless, they weren't going to find anything. And just as he was about to comment on that fact, something caught his eye ahead of them. Vance was moving at a crawl and it was something about the abandoned building ahead that gave him a feeling that he needed to check it out.

"Stop. There, that building. It's an antique store, isn't it?" Matt asked as he pointed to the building.

Vance stopped next to the back door of the building which was propped open. "Yeah, I think so. And that's what Quinn said, some kind of old store."

The two men stepped out of the car and inspectd the outside of the building. It was faint, but Matt could see there had been a red smear on the door. It had rained a little yesterday so it may have washed some away, but he knew blood when he saw it.

Together the two drew weapons and prepared to enter the building. Just as they pulled the door open to peer inside into the dusky interior, something halted them dead in their tracks.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." And they both heard the unmistakable click of the hammer of a shotgun being pulled into place. Both men knew well enough how to handle this situation, but both were not prepared to face the fact that the voice halting them belonged to an obviously very mature very female voice.

As both men turned to face the person who belonged to the voice, they were surprised to see that the older woman was not alone. There was also an equally mature getleman standing just behind her also holding a shot gun.

Vance looked at Matt who returned the look. "This just got way too interesting." He replied softly as the two faced the couple.

"You have no idea." The older man remarked as he raised his gun to eye level. "Drop the guns and walk inside. I think it's time we have a little talk, Colonel."

Vance raised an eyebrow at the comment, but refrained from replying as he carefully placed his gun on the ground. Matthew followed suit and the two men turned to walk into the abandoned building.

"I'm very fond of that gun, so I'd hate to see anything happen to it." Matthew said over his shoulder.

The man chuckled loud enough for all to hear. "I wouldn't worry too much about that right now, Major. We have more important matters to discuss."


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six

_Have You Ever Skipped A Stone Across The Water_

_Have You Ever Hitched A Free Ride On A Train_

_Have You Ever Climbed Up On A Water Tower _

_To Write A Name_

_The Truth Is, Every Man Dies_

_Not Every Man Lives_

_-By Jason Aldean-_

Roughly between 12:30 to 1:00 PM

"You're not joking, are you?" Matthew Whitmore couldn't believe what he was hearing from Albert Wilson. "You're really Spencer's grandfather?"

"Yes. And Emma's too. I know she's here as well." The man in question replied as he lowered his shotgun to the table in between them. His wife's rifle was already laying on the table.

Colonel Vance stood next to Matt as the elderly couple explained themselves to the pair. This was going to be near impossible for Eliot to wrap his head around not to mention Emma. "You have to tell them who you are. You owe them that." He replied somewhat harshly. "You've hid from them all these years, living in secret and letting them think you were dead and now you show up? They need to know. Both of them need to know who you are."

Albert turned to face the much taller man. "You think you have the right to question me on my secrets, Colonel? Or you Major?" He turned to face the shorter man. "You have both been keeping some whopper secrets yourselves."

Both men looked at each other as they realized what the man was implying. "You know about Evan?" Matt questioned. He didn't even bother to deny the man's allegation, it was time to stop keeping this secret. It had done nothing but lead to where they were right now. "How much do you know?"

"Yes, we know some." Marion answered for her husband. "We don't know how he's involved here or why he hates Eliot so much, but we've pieced things together enough to know that Evan and his brother Eaton were probably conceived by Mary and Jack when they were very young and somehow were probably given up for adoption to one of Mary's step-brothers to raise."

"I don't know all the details of that secret either, but when Evan joined the military and I saw him for the first time, I knew he was somehow related to Eliot. He looked too much like the man, but Eliot claimed he was a cousin and that he wasn't even blood related. It didn't seem like Eliot knew who Evan really was in relation to him, and I knew that didn't make much sense, so both Vance and myself confronted Evan. He knew who he was, his adopted parents had recently told him the truth. The man hated everyone named Spencer and he took most of his hatred out on Eliot, who took it all without a word against the man. Whenever he could, Evan was always on that boy's case." He said as he thought back to the few times he'd seen the two men. Eliot never came back to his home in Oklahoma, but Emma still kept in touch with her father's brothers and her mother's step-brothers. He'd seen Evan and Eaton on more than one occasion, and he knew that they were twins as well as Eliot and Emma, so the odds were they were related somehow.

"Yeah, well, all we can tell you is that after Evan had trouble with his military duty, he was given one last option to save his military reputation. I was instructed to get him inside Damien Moreau's inner circle and see if we could take the man down. That was over seven years ago." Vance added as he moved to stand near a dirty window facing the depressing appearance of the alley. "Turned out that Evan liked working for Moreau more than Uncle Sam and we lost him." There was a slight pause before he added, "then we lost Eliot."

"Lost Eliot? How?" Marion asked watching the tall man as he continued staring out the window. She could tell he wasn't really seeing the scenery in the alley.

"I can't go into much detail there as that file is classified," He sighed as he turned to face the small woman. He liked her. She had caring eyes. He could see nothing, but worry in those eyes. "But on Eliot's last mission, while he managed to complete the mission, he too became disillusioned with what was duty and what was just sanctioned murder as he called it. So he left and followed after Evan. He found him."

Albert watched the man before him as he took in the slump of the colonel's shoulders. He could tell this man fought a hard battle every day just trying to do his own job. "What happened?"

"Well, long story short, Evan fell out of favor with Moreau and wanted out so he called us. He thought we'd help him."

"You didn't?" Marion asked.

"No, we helped, but not in the way he wanted. He wanted to come back and be a soldier again, but we knew he was most likely not a good candidate even if he knew Moreau and how he worked; so we made a compromise." Vance replied crossing his arms over his chest. "He gave up everything he had on Moreau. He gave up everything on Eliot and what he'd done for Moreau. He turned on his own brother and in return we faked his death and gave him a new identity with the promise he'd never set foot in our country again. He was supposed to be living somewhere in eastern Europe. Until this all started, that's where we thought he still was."

"Why does he hate Eliot?" Albert asked as he found himself settling into one of the broken down chairs at the equally broken table. Marion had followed in the next chair settling herself next to her husband. "Why is he trying to kill our grandson?"

Matt met Vance's eyes as they realized they'd have to tell them something. "Probably because Eliot tried to kill him; more than once." He stated as he watched the couple. "We didn't really care about getting Evan back, we really wanted Eliot out of Damien's circle more than anything. It was Eaton who was tasked with faking Evan's death and getting Eliot out, but things fell apart almost from the beginning." He sighed heavily as he too found a chair and sat down across from Albert. "Eaton had his own plan. You see, Eaton was dying."

"Dying? How?" Marion asked as she grasped her husband hand tightly in hers.

Matt took in the couple and noted the love they shared whenever they looked at each other. He hoped he could have the same with Emma when they got older. "Eaton had cancer. It'd been found late in it's last stage, so it was just matter of time for him; but he'd been keeping it hidden. He volunteered to go in and pass as Evan to get to Moreau. From there he would take the man out and fake Evan's death and then the two would drag Eliot out if they had to; but that's not what went down. After Eaton gained access to Moreau, he found out that the man had already ordered a hit on Evan hmself for leaving his circle; and Eliot had already tried to take Evan out once. Eaton was in danger since he was playing the part of Evan; and since the task of killing Evan had been given to Eliot, we knew he'd surely die the instant Eliot found him."

"We don't know why Moreau did that other than the man always like to put those kinds of things out there. He wanted his men to be totally loyal and what better way to prove their loyalty than having them do something to family?" Vance addd. "Eliot was the one who killed Eaton, but he thought he'd killed Evan; and Evan wasn't really that big of a loss for Eliot since they'd hated each other for so long. At least that's what we figured Eliot's thinking would be. But when the time came, well it turned out it was harder than he thought. Eliot did kill Eaton, but he hesitated for a moment."

"Oh dear, poor Eliot." Marion replied. "He thought he killed his brother, the evil one, but did he ever find out it wasn't Evan?"

"No, we never told him. Eliot thought he'd killed Evan and we thought Evan would be there, but he'd ran, so we don't know what it was that had Eliot hesitating; we can only guess his conscience may have been fighting a war within him. Eaton was dying anyway, so he didn't even try to stop him and maybe that confused Eliot; we had ears to the whole thing, so we know Eaton didn't say anything to stop Eliot. We don't know what happened for sure, but since Eliot did kill Eaton we knew Moreau had a tighter hold over Eliot than his conscience had. That is, until Moreau sent him on another task to kill a General Flores in San Lorenzo."

"What happened there?" Albert asked taking in every detail.

"We'd lost track of Eliot for a while after that, but when we got word of the hit on the General, we were able to get some one inside on the General's private team who took Eliot down when he breached the General's security. We knew it would be Eliot, he was the only one who made any sense. Only Eliot could get through all the security surrounding the man without getting caught. When Eliot found our man inside, he finally realized just how far he'd come for Moreau and he gave up. He let us bring him home."

Matt looked at Vance as he told the story. It really wasn't anyone's business that the inside man had been Matt himself. They knew no one short of Emma would have gotten a reaction from Eliot than her husband and his former friend. Emma didn't know about Matt's part in that mission and she didn't need to know that. He'd gotten her brother out and that was what was important. "Of course, just because we got him out, didn't mean we had control over Eliot. He became something else after that. Something not exactly good, but not exactly as bad as he'd been. He went on to become a specialist at what he did and had moved all over before he settled in with Ford's team a few years back."

"Yes. I've followed him since he showed up here in Boston. I'd tried to keep track of both him and Emma, but Eliot was hard to nail down until he settled here. Marion and myself have stayed as close as we dared." Albert stated as he thought about their grandson.

"We knew Emma was safe with you and she was easier to keep track of, but Eliot moved around so much, we couldn't take the chance we'd never see him if we ddn't stay close, so we became his harmless elderly neighbors." Marion added smiling.

The two military men took in the elderly couple and they both knew that there was nothing about this pair that was harmless. "You two staged the scene at Eliot's safehouse, didn't you?"

Albert chuckled. "Yes we did. Being old you tend to get up two or three times a night and I just happened to notice the flames coming from Eliot's house, so we headed over and quickly got it under control. Whoever had been there, may have been able to get Eliot, but they couldn't start a fire for shit."

"What happened there? Who was the dead man?" Matt asked. "Your turn to spill."

"Well, it seems fate had a hand in all of this. That night my brother came for a visit and while we were at Eliot's, my brother had a heart attack and died in his sleep. I sacrificed my brother's body to help confuse the police so we could find Eliot ourselves. The police only get in the way and we couln't afford to waste time with them stumbling all over our own investigation, so we created a different crime scene and we found Eliot's earbud and cell phone." Marion said smiling up at the young man across from her.

The two military men couldn't believe what they were hearing. "It was you? You've been listening to us and Ford and the team? You've known every step we've been taking?" Matt asked astonished. This couple, this elderly couple had bested them? He couldn't believe it.

"Yes, it was us. I'm not as good as that young man Hardison, but Im not an idiot either. I may be old, but typing on a computer does not require a lot of movement, so I'm learned a lot over the years." Albert said. "I led you to the warehouse to take down that Liam Chapman and find the fallen soldier they were using to replace Eliot and it was me who has been looking for your friend Quinn as well; and it was me who has found your friend Quinn."

Matt jumped up as he listened to the man. He couldn't believe two eighty-something people had been able to accomplish more than he or Vance or even Ford's team had. "You two have found Quinn? I can't believe any of this." He shook his head chuckling at the whole situation.

Vance laughed as he took all this in. "Did you get all that, Ford?"

Marion and Albert shared a confused look at the man, then they too began laughing. "You're wearing earbuds? Right now? I can't believe that!" Albert couldn't believe that he'd been had himself now. "Well, damnit, get them here already and we'll take you all to Quinn so we can go get my grandson home where he belongs."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 1:30 PM

Evan looked at the cell phone in his hand as he talked to his man Barnes. He'd decided to stick around since it seemed nothing so far had been connected to him. The doctor was still missing and that nurse and Eliot were in the wind. They were the only ones who could lead anyone to him and since he figured they were in hiding from him, he knew they wouldn't send anyone after him. No he knew Eliot. If he was getting better, then Eliot would want to take him out himself. He woldn't need the military or law to do it either.

He'd been pissed that Eliot had gotten away as well as this Quinn guy too; but that all changed now. Barnes and his team had stumbled across Colonel Michael Vance and Major Matthew Whitmore in a building near downtown. They were watching them right now.

"You keep them in sight and follow them wherever they go. If those two are searching downtown, then they're looking for Quinn and if this old couple with them are their contacts to Quinn, I want all of them dead."

"Even the old couple? The woman?" Came Barnes question.

"Do not question me Barnes. You know what I want."

"Forgive me, sir. Don't know what I was thinking. Of course, kill them all." There was no sarcasm in the reply. "Another vehicle just pulled up to the building."

Evan waited for the man to elaborate on the vehicle. "Well, who is it?" He spat out after not hearing anything more.

"Don't know for sure, sir. No one has gotten out of the car yet. It looks like there are two in the front, but it's a van so there could be more." There was a small pause. "Wait, sir. It's Ford and a woman. I'm not sure who the woman is, I've never seen her before. It's not either of the women on Ford's team. They're going into the building."

"Well, let me know as soon as they leave. Follow them and find out where Spencer is. Then do your job cleaning up this whole mess." He smiled as he remembered seeing the news broadcast two days ago about the strange bombing at a warehouse downtown. Most of the zombie flash mob had left the scene, but Barnes and his men had been able to take out all five of Liam's men and probably Liam himself. There had been 8 casualties and several more wounded, but none of the zombies had succumbed to the blast. For that, Evan was disappointed. He'd really have loved hearing about the walking dead actually dying.

"Yes, sir." Barnes ended the call and picked up the binoculars hanging around his neck. He watched Ford and the woman go into the building and he watched as another vehicle pulled up next to the van and four people got. He recognized three as members of Ford's team, but there was another dark haired woman with them he did not know.

He watched as the people in the building came out and met the others in the alley; and he continued to watch as all of them loaded up in two of the three vehicles and finally pull out of the alley. He signaled his driver to follow them. He was going to complete this mission, then he was done. He'd had enough of Evan Chapman. Barnes didn't mind working for eccentric people, but when they started going nutty, he was out. It didn't matter how good the money was; if there was one thing he'd learned in this business, it was that crazy usually led to nothing but trouble and Evan Chapman was heading towards full blown crazy.

He'd take care of these people and then he'd take care of Spencer. Then, he planned on dropping out of sight. He had priorities after all, and getting buried in some unknown military hellhole or getting taken out by Eliot Spencer were not on the list.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty-Seven

_Have You Ever Loved Someone That You Would Die For_

_Have You Ever Walked Too Far Out On A Limb_

_Have You Ever Chased A Dream Too High To Reach For And Pulled It In_

_Truth Is, Every Man Dies_

_Not Every Man Lives_

Roughly around 1:00 PM Vermont Cabin

"So," Kat began as she carefully swallowed the bite of her sandwich before continuing. "Tell me more about Parker. She really intrigues me; she sounds like a ton of fun."

She smiled over her sandwich at Eliot who sat across from her at the small kitchen table. He'd managed to eat almost all of his sandwich considering the size of the things after he'd finished making them and she was truly impressed with the man. She knew most people couldn't stomach that much solid food so soon after such major surgery, but this man seemed to throw all the normal stuff out the window when it came to his healing. She was willing to bet his system was just as normal as everyone else's, but he had one thing others didn't. Determination. He knew he needed to heal faster than normal so he just put his mind over his body and did what needed to be done. She wasn't sure if that was always a good thing, but she could understand it, especially now that he'd explained things to her; about his team and the jobs they did and his job to protect them.

"Figures you'd focus in on Parker." Eliot scoffed as he pushed his plate away and reached for his glass of tea. He took a drink then relished the sweet goodness and took another long drag from the glass. No one, and he meant no one had ever been able to make sweet tea like his mamma. Not even Emma could match that taste. Eliot knew it was a southern thing, but it was really the one thing he missed the most. He hated restaurants that gave you unsweet iced tea and expected you to get sugar to disolve in that. No, you had to add the sugar when it was still hot. Damn, if he didn't already have an attraction to this woman, this tea would have sealed the deal. He smiled at her over the rim of his glass bfore draining the it.

"Why not? They all sound like a great team, but Parker just seems like she'd be so much fun to hang with. Don't get me wrong, I want to hear abut all of them, but I just feel a connection to Parker." Kat said with a smile, reaching for the tea pitcher and refilling his glass and taking note he'd already had two glasses. "You'd better slow down there. Too much sugar won't help hydrate you, ya know."

"Can't be helped. I haven't had tea like this since my mamma-" He cut off abruptly as his mind went to his mother. Going there would mean giving away too much about himself, and that was always something you never did, especially with women. It was one thing to sweet talk them and promise them that he'd do whatever he could to please them with the time they had, but it was another to open that door to your personal self. No, he couldn't do that; but this woman had saved him from his brother and she wasn't just any ordinary woman.

Kat watched the war raging behind Eliot's eyes. It was always about his damned eyes, she thought. He wanted to speak freely, but he was fighting it, because of who he was and everything he had to do; everything, and she meant everything went through this man's eyes. No wonder he didn't like to make eye contact that much.

"Your mamma's gone now, isn't she?" She questioned softly. At his brisk nod, she smiled gently. "Mine, too. Dad before her. For a long time it was just me and my two brothers, then they were taken from me, too. All I really have is Quinn, and Sam and Bella." She'd already told him about her friends and how they'd helped her to get him here to the cabin; about how they'd help protect him too.

Eliot brushed his hair back from his face with one hand as he watched her. "Two brothers?"

"Yeah." She replied softly as she cleared her throat. "You knew Luke and I'm gonna ask you about that, but later. I don't want to really think about that right now."

He reached over and gently covered her hand that had moved to pick at the remainder of her sandwich on her plate. He gently closed around her hand and pulled it away from the plate. "Don't pick at your food." He smiled as she watched his hand wrapped around hers. "Yes, I knew Luke. He was a good man."

"Yes, he was."

"So... I know he was younger because he told me about his older sister, he showed me and Quinn your picture when you were pregnant; but I don't remember him taking about a brother."

Kat turned to wistfully stare out the window over the sink in the kitchen. It was cloudy and overcast and she could feel the chill slowly creeping into the room. She knew she'd have to go out and gather up some more firewood, but she didn't want to move right now. Eliot's touch was very comforting and for some reason she knew she could trust him.

"I'm not just a nurse, Eliot."

He tilted his head slightly to the side as he listened. "No, I've gathered that much. Tell me what exactly are you, Kat?"

She drew in a deep breath as she looked at their hands on the table. "I was married once... to a not so nice man..."

Eliot didn't interrupt or encourage her to continue. He knew she'd tell him; she just needed to do it in her own time, so he just sat and held her hand in his.

"A really bad not so nice man. My husband, Adam was in the military too. Just like Luke and Joe, my older brother. In fact he was good friends with Joe from high school. Kind of like Quinn and Luke, but Adam and Joe had a falling out." She closed her eyes as she thought back to that day. "Joe found out just how not nice Adam was to me and he tried to help me. I'd been married to Adam for a while, but Joe had always seen through all of my lies. He never puhe though. I guess he didn't want to believe his friend could be the abusive kind, you know wht I mean? But he finally started questioning the bruises he'd see on my arms, my shoulder once... but when he saw the bruises on my neck he knew he couldn't just ask questions anymore. He knew I wasn't going to tell him. I was afraid of..." She took in a deep breath and felt Eliot as he gently squeezed her hand. "Truth is, I wasn't really afraid of Adam for myself. I was more afraid for my brothers, and my daughter." She slowly opened her eyes to see Eliot watchng her with his gentle blue ones. Damn it she thought, I don't mind telling him, but getting this emotional wasn't part of it. I shouldn't still be this emotional.

"Adam have a high ranking position in the military?" He paused as he took in her nod. "He could hurt your family, couldn't he?" He asked softly. Kat quickly met Eliot's gaze at how fast he'd made the connection. "It's a story I've heard before, Kat. You're not the first person to have to deal when your family is threatened by someone with military connections. Maybe the first to have to put up with abuse, but not the first to have to toloerate something to protect your family. We've all been there."

"Well, maybe..." She paused as he reached over to wipe his thumb across her cheek and she was amazed to realize that she'd been crying as well. "I... I'm sorry..." She began.

Eliot reached out and placed that same thumb over her lips. "Don't... don't ever say that."

Kat felt the intimate touch and longed to kiss that thumb, but she managed to control herself and when he slowly pulled his hand away from her face, she tried hard not to whimper at the loss of his touch.

"Anyway, one thing led to another and well, Joe forced Adam's hand. Joe thought he'd take his anger out on him, but he didn't. He took it out on me and when Joe found me, he went after Adam in a blind rage. It... it didn't end well... and no one dared not believe Adam's story... and I was still too weak to speak up for my own brother..."

"He killed your brother?" She nodded at his quiet question. "But you didn't leave him then, did you?"

She looked at him. "No. I had no money, he made sure of that and I had no friends. I'd graduated from nursing school and was a nurse when I met Adam, but that had all stopped when we got married and I had my daughter. Then I found out I was pregnant again and well I couldn't get out." She turned to face the window over the sink again. "I lost that baby at almost five months." She added softly.

Eliot looked at her and he could hear it in her voice. He gripped her hand tighter as he listened to her. "Did..." He cleared his throat at the sudden lump. "Was Adam responsible for that?"

She turned back and offered Eliot a watery smile as she felt the tears now sliding down her face. "Yes. And he was responsible the first time it happened too. I had a miscarriage early on in the marriage, then I got pregnant with my daughter Hannah, and by some miracle I delivered her just before Joe...died. Then this ... it was my third pregnancy and that time Adam did a much better job."

Eliot looked at her carefully to make sure he didn't miss her meaning. "You can't... you can't have children anymore?" He asked softly.

Kat looked deep into his eyes and felt new tears slip down her face. She probably was a mess, but bless him he didn't look at her like she was. He was in fact fighting his own form of anger. "No, I can't."

Eliot gritted his teeth as he felt that famiiar anger slowly buring in his soul. The anger he saved for the really bad guys he fought everytime they faced a big bad guy. "I'm hoping Adam is no longer alive."

"No, he's dead." She took a deep breath as she felt the burden of holding this in for so long. "I killed him... I killed him when I killed my daughter..." She bent her head because she couldn't look at him when she told him this. He may have been kind, but when he found out she'd killed her daughter, then she knew he'd hate her just as much she truly deserved.

"Tell me."

She looked up at him. His voice wasn't angry, it was kind of... curious. He wanted to hear her tell it. "I can't go through that Eliot. I can't..." His grip on her hands tightened and he leaned across the table closer to her.

"Tell me about it. Tell me everything and then tell me again you killed your daughter."

She opened her mouth not sure what to say. "I killed my husband with Quinn's help and my daughter died, too. Isn't that enough? What more do you want me to say, Eliot?"

"I want you to tell me the truth. The truth you won't allow yourself to believe. Because I may not everything there is to know you, but in these past few days, there is one thing I can tell about you and that's the fact you don't kill without a reason and your daughter, no matter how old she was, would never give you a reason to kill her. I know you didn't kill her. Not on purpose and I want you to know that as well."

She looked at him as he moved his hand to grip her upper arm and pull her closer to him over the table. His grip was strong, but he wasn't hurting her...yet. Then as she felt his grip tighten, she gasped when he moved to slowly grip her other arm. "Eliot?" She questioned as he slowly pulled them both up from the table.

"Tell me what Adam was doing when you killed him. Tell me." His grip tightened as he felt her react to his hold over her. She went still. She was fighting a battle within herself and he knew he had her. She wanted desperately to break free of him, but she was refusing to do so because she didn't want to hurt him. He knew in that instant that if this woman was this worried about hurting him, she would have been ten times more worried about hurting her own flesh and blood, her daughter. She didn't kill her daughter and he knew that beyond a doubt. He slowly smiled a slightly wicked smile as his grip tightened even more.

"Eliot, you're beginning to hurt me. Let me go." She tried to pull away from him, but she didn't want to hurt him. She knew he was stronger than her even hurt, but she just couldn't let herself hurt him any more than he already was. "Let...me...go." She turned hard eyes on him now.

"Make me." He turned her quickly and before she knew what he was doing, he hand one arm around her upper body holding her shoulders tightly against his firm body. His other hand went in for her throat. "Make me stop hurting you." His hand gripped her firmly around her neck just as he suspected Adam would have done.

Kat felt something snap as she remembered what had happened over ten years ago. She felt Adam pulling her arm behind her as she fought him that night. He had one hand around her throat choking her while his other held her arm tightly againt her back.

She was supposed to grab Hannah and get the hell out. Adam wasn't supposed to be coming back... Adam was supposed to die in a car crash, but here he was back at their house catching her as she loaded Hannah in her car.

She struggled as she felt her arm being tightened behind her to it's limit. She could hear Hannah crying when she finally screamed from the sharp pain as the bones in her arm finally snapped from the pressure he'd forced on it. Then suddenly she was free. He'd pushed her into his car and the next thing she knew he'd thrown their five year old daughter in next to her and he was behind the wheel. They were in his car; Adam's car. God, they needed to get out of here. She needed to get Hannah safe. Adam's car was supposed to crash. Quinn had planted the device to take out the brake system. Hnnah wasn't supposed to be here. She craddled her daughter to her as the child cried. She couldn't do much else with one arm already broken, but she prayed hard. She fought the pain and tears as she felt the car suddenly skid around a curve and she knew this was it.

Eliot watched as he slowly let Kat go and took in how she was craddling her right arm and falling to the floor. H could see she wasn't seeing him anymore. He'd managed to make her see that time all over and he just hoped she'd see that it wasn't her fault that her daughter was dead.

Kat sat there for what felt like an eternity. When she finally stopped crying and focused in on him, he knew she was back and she was seeing him. "You are a son of a bitch, Eliot Spencer!" She spat at him from the floor.

He carefully got down on his knees and reached for her. When she fought his touch, he just firmly took hold of her wrists and held them tightly as he pulled her into his lap and into his hold. He held tightly as she fought him and he gently held her as she cried and called him every name she probably knew. And no matter what she said or tried, he didn't move one inch to let her free.

He held her until she finally fell into his hold and allowed him to cradle her to him. He let go of her wrists and wrapped his arms tightly around her as he stroked her hair. He gently kissed her on the top of her head while she spilled the whole story out and he didn't interrupt her when she finally let all of her pain flow out with each word. And he was still holding her hours later as the cabin began to grow colder.

He could tell she'd cried herelf to sleep in his hold and as he took in the setting sun outside the cabin, he carfully got up still craddling her to his injured chest and carried her to the bedroom. Just as he laid her down on the bed, he took in the slight glint that shone off the nightstand's metal alarm clock. He stiffened as he turned to see headlights glaring through the drawn curtains.

They had company and he didn't know who'd found them, but he knew two things for sure in that instant. One, he wasn't going down again without a fight and two, no one was going to hurt Kat ever again. Not while he was here.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight

_I Wanna Paint Outside The Lines_

_Run The Red Lights In My Mind_

_Take Everthing One Lifetime Has To Give_

_I Wanna Stand Inside A Fire_

_Walk Blind-folded On A Wire_

_Every Man Dies_

But Not Every Man Lives

Roughly between 2:00 and 3:15 PM Boston

"Hey, Just Quinn, you have company!" Libby sing-songed from the living room.

Quinn tried not to chuckle as Missy's mother used the nickname Missy had been calling him all during lunch. He'd stayed at the dining table afterwards, to read the newspaper while he waited for the arrival of Albert. After that, he planned to call Vance if he could get a disposable cell. He didn't want to use Libby's or the flower shop's landline; it would be too easy to trace.

Right now though, he wasn't too worried abut reporting to Vance as Quinn was sure that Kat and Eliot were safe. He'd lost his phone when he guessed it was in his car and Eric had disposed of it. Quinn was pretty sure Evan's men hadn't gotten a hold of it, so they had no way to trace Kat's text messages, and that was the main thing right now; that both Kat and Eliot were safe.

Eric had closed the flower shop early and was sitting at the table sharing the newspaper with him. He smiled now at his sister's teasing as he looked across the table at Quinn.

"They're Pete and Repeat, as our mother used to say." He joked as he closed the sports section he'd been about to scan. "Must be Albert."

Both men got up and Eric helped Quinn as he managed to get one crutch under him. They moved from the kitchen area to the living room where they found not only someone Quinn assumed was Albert, but a room full of people were waiting for him. He recognized all but three of them and figured the man must be this Albert he'd heard about; but the fact the man had to be at least 80 took him completely by surprise.

"Hello, Quinn." Vance said as he stepped forward to look at the younger man. "I see you've been playing with guns again."

Quinn smiled at the comment. "Well, you know me, Colonel, just can't seem to stay away from 'em." He turned to the others. "Whitmore... and Mikel," He paused as he took in the appearance of the other specialist in the room. "Whitmore I would expect to be with Vance, but you Mikel... not really someone I'd expect to see, especially right now. How'd you get involved in all of this?"

Mikel looked the other man up and down. The last time the two had seen each other, they were planning to retrieve the same object, a very rare and very expensive jewel for a very wealthy man from Dubai. She smiled in memory of the fact neither of them got the object in question; they both lost out to their main competition; Eliot. "You know how it is, Quinn. All hands needed... so to speak."

Nate stepped forward to stand just behind the young woman. "Actually Quinn, it was Evan who brought in Mikel. Seems he couldn't complete his mission of taking Eilot out, so he called in a favor."

"A favor? From you?" Quinn directed his question to Mikel. "You owed him a favor?"

The woman gave Quinn a slight tilt of her head as she thought about her answer. "Not me, exactly." She paused, while she thought about how much to reveal. "Let's just say someone close to me owed him a favor and cannot fulfill their duty, so I stepped in."

"I'm guessing duty and honor walk a very fine line here and I'm going to guess by your appearance here that it was a hard choice, but you chose the same side as I." Quinn replied, with a small nod of his head. He understood honor, but he also understand sacrifice and he knew there was a history between Eliot and the beautiful woman standing in front of him. He was hoping that history meant more than her friend's honor. Or he'd have to step in, because he felt the same duty and honor to Kat.

"You assume correctly, Quinn." The woman stated softly. "Now, how do we find Eliot and how do we help him and your friend put an end to Evan Chapman and his crew?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Mr. Chapman?" Barnes spoke into his cell from his seat in the SUV that was parked just outside the flower shop. "I think I've finally got some good news to report. We've found Quinn and Eliot's team as well as Vance and Whitmore. How should we proceed?"

"Keep your eyes on them and make sure they stay there. I'm heading to you now with my guys. I want to talk to this man myself." Evan motioned to James to gather all available men. "Do whatever it takes to keep them there, Barnes and I promise you it will be worth it for you. I reward loyalty."

"Yes sir." Barnes replied. "That won't be a problem." After Evan hung up, Barnes pocketed the cell and looked across the street at the building there. It was another small business, currently vacant by the sign for rent in the window. He looked upwards and noted it had multiple floors. Hopefully they were vacant too. "Okay guys," He spoke into his earwig to his men in the vehicle behind his. "I need two teams in that building for distance surveilance and sniper duty." He pointed out his window to the building. "Graves; you, Bowers, Henderson and Jackson go there. The rest of us will work our way through this building to the targets. Let's go." As Bowers and Graves exited their vehicle and headed for the vacant building, the other men all joined Barnes at the entrance to the flower shop. "Graves, careful with any civilians, I don't want any unnecessary bloodshed, but use your best judgement. Waxter, Brown, and Gaines, you three take the back entrance and we go on my signal." He motioned for the other three men to head around to the back of the store. That left him with three men and himself to take the front. "Now!"

As the four men kicked in the door of the flower shop and burst into the room, none of them noticed the young black man standing beside the black van he affectionately called Lucille. Nor did they notice the ipad he carried in his hands.

"Nate. We have a problem." Hardison replied into his earbud, while he typed furiously on the tablet. "A very big problem and it's coming your way."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Evan Chapman raced to get in his car while his driver James waited just outside the main door of the big house. Four other men were already in the car with another six in the SUV behind theirs. "Let's go!" He yelled as he jumped inside the passanger seat, barely getting his door closed before James had floored the gas pedal and was squealing out of the driveway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly about 3:10 PM

Captain Bonanno reached for his ringing cell as he sat in his car just outside the house on Wallace Lane. He had tried to reach the Wilsons by phone and when that hadn't worked, he'd driven to their house to find it locked up tight. He'd just been debating on checking in with Ford, when he read Ford's name on his caller ID.

"Helo Nate." He replied into the phone. He didn't know what to expect, but hearing the voice of a young girl was the last thing he thought.

"Help us! Please! Mr. Ford said you can help us!" Missy's high pitched voice conveyed her urgency. "Someone's trying to shoot us and they shot Just Quinn!"

"Where are you?" He asked as he started the engine to his police issue Crown Vic. "Tell me exactly where you are, sweetie?" He tried to remain calm so he could help ease the child's fear, but he didn't know if it was working.

"We're at home!"

"Where's home?" He asked the child. "Honey, where's your home?" But before the girl could answer, Bonanno heard the volley of gunshots then the screaming of the child as something like glass breaking crashed in the background of the call. Then nothing. The line was still open, but no noise was coming from the phone. "Damn it!" He yelled as he reached for his raido to call for a trace on is cell. As he gave the dispatcher the details and waited for the trace, he steered out of the driveway and headed back to the city as fast as he could. Damn it Ford, what trouble have you gotten into now?

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma sat huddled in the corner cradling Missy to her as they hid from the chaos going on around them. "Where's my mom?" The child asked, trying to pull away from Emma.

Libby sat nearby holding her injured arm close to her chest to help slow the blood flow. She could see Emma and her daughter, but she couldn't get to them. "I'm here, Missy honey. I'm fine, just stay with Emma. Don't move!" She cried out over the noise as the next borage of bullets burst through the door and the windows of the small apartment.

Eric and the one called Vance had tried to block the door the best they could with furniture, but it would soon fail, Libby knew. She watched her brother as she saw the terror in his eyes. He'd been to war and he'd come home, but he'd never been the same and now this... this would probably send him over the edge.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nate looked up from his position on the floor at the entrance to the hallway. He was trying to cover Sophie as he looked at his cell phone laying in the middle of the floor. It was between him and Emma and Missy. The little girl had tried to make the call and he thought she'd gotten through, but when Missy had seen her mother get hit, she'd lost the phone and it had slid too far from any of them to get to. They were pinned down and he had no idea if Hardison had gotten to safety after he'd given them a warning.

Eric and Vance had barely had tme to block the door before the bullets tore through four of the apartments windows in the kitchen and living room areas. Whitmore was with Quinn who'd taken another hit, to his chest this time. Matt was doing everything to help stop the bleeding While Quinn lay there under his hands.

Mikel was managing to crawl over to the two men and she had Libby's medical bag with her. Thank God, Nate thought. They needed everyone to be all right, but they especially needed Quinn to be all right. He was the only one who knew where Eliot was.

Suddenly there was the sound of another window breaking and Nate guessed it was coming from one of the bedrooms down the hall. As he turned to look back at the hallway behind him, he saw the two men before anyone else, and he couldn't help but notice they were wearing gas masked. Damn it, he thought just as he took in the smoke from the device rolling into the room ahead of the two men. They were going to gas them all. As Nate tried his best to fight the world of unconsciousness, he couldn't help but think that he and the others were in the worst fix of their lives so far, and all he could do was hope that Parker had gotten out before those men had gotten in. She'd gone to find Hardison when he'd left to get to his computers in Lucille.

He fought a laugh when he realized that his hopes for a rescue depended on a little girl reaching Bonanno and a 'twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag' had gotten outside safely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Quinn lay on the floor and could feel the blood flowing out of his chest while Matt tried his best to stop the flow. It wasn't working, was all he could think. Damn it, Quinn thought, if he was going to die, then he needed to be sure he did the right thing by Kat; and Eliot.

"Whit...Whitmore?" He said between gasps of pain.

"What? Stop talking, Quinn." Whtmore said while he tried to keep his hands pressed firmly on the man's chest.

"Can't. I need... need to tell you where Kat... is..."

Whitmore looked from his hands to Quinn's face. Damn it, he thought. Matt needed to know where Eliot was, but he also needed Quinn to stay quiet. He needed to save him, and save all of them.

As Mikel crawled over on her stomach dragging the doctor's medical bag with her, he realized Quinn was still trying to talk, but was having trouble speaking up, so he moved his head closer to hear the man's words.


	39. Chapter 39

AN: I know, it's been two months since I've updated and your mad at me probably, but all I can say is Sorry! Life has just invaded every aspect with all kinds of things; some good, some not so good. But here it is and I'll be adding another chapter to completely clear it all up and set up for a sequel within the next few days. Thank you for being so patient all.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

_Have You Ever Thought About How Fast Time Passes_

_Ever Thought About What You Leave Behind_

_Ever Stood Up For Something You Believed In And Drawn A Line_

_Truth Is, Every Man Dies_

_Not Every Man Lives_

Monday September 12th about 11:30 PM in Boston

Patrick Bonanno carefully eased one of the cups of coffee from the tray he craddled to his left side and handed it to Nate. The man took the cup with a mumbled word of thanks as Bonanno moved on to hand a cup each to Sophie and Emma. The two women sat close to each other on the other side of Nate and they both smiled their thanks to the tall detective.

Bonanno moved to pull the last cup free of the tray, then toss the tray in the nearby trashcan before he sat down on the other side of Nate in one of the hard plastic chairs in the hospital's waiting room. He never got over the fact the hospital waiting room had always had these awful chairs.

He thought it would be easier if people waiting to hear word about their loved ones could at least be comfortable, but then he knew from past experience that the chairs really didn't matter when you didn't know what was going on...like now.

The past few hours had been a blur, but Bonanno knew he needed to get all the details straight if he was going to be able to explain everything away. When he'd arrived at the flower store it already resembled a war zone and that was probably from the explosion he witnessed. But at seeing Hardison and Parker looking like they had, well that had unhinged Bonanno just a bit.

He knew the young hacker wasn't equiped to handle war situations, but he was on Nate's team so he'd expected the man to be more coherent and that wasn't what he'd found. Alec Hardison had been covered in dirt and debris and looking like he'd just crawled out of a bad situation, which Bonanno knew he had. But he hadn't expected to find the man so totally upset and it had taken him a few minutes to calm the man down. It didn't help that Parker couldn't help him with that.

From what he'd gathered, Hardison had come outside to do what he did, work with his computers and he'd seen the armed men storm the store and he'd tried to warn Nate, but it had been too late. The men, Bonanno now knew belonged to Evan Chapman, had been everywhere and they were attacking the building from the ground and from the air. From the building across the street, Parker had informd Hardison that there were snipers in the building. How she'd gotten from the shop's building across the street to the other building, Bonanno was a little fuzzy on that, but she had and she'd risked her life to do it.

Hardison had been able to take control of both buildings security cameras and he had tried to hack into the systems that controled both buildings' maintenance. He'd managed to do that with the vacant building, but not the one that Nate and Sophie as well as everyone they were with were in. Hardison had locked the vacant building down, and the men there weren't getting out anytime soon, but he couldn't stop them from shooting at the apartment his team was in.

Bonanno knew that Hardison had tried to help his team, but he couldn't; so he'd contacted Bonanno who was already on his way and relayed everything that was going on while the detective traveled to the scene. He'd told him everything he could while he worked his computer magic.

As Bonanno turned onto the street, he'd seen the vacant building as it was virturally destroyed from the explosion. He now knew that Parker had somehow managed to use her tazer to help Hardison overload the main circuit breaker and after the subsequent fire started, it hit some volatile chemicals stored in the lobby of the building. She had barely escaped by jumping from the rooftop over the alley and landing on a dumpster. Hardison had seen her jump and had raced to her aid, trying his best to get to her before she landed, but not quite making it.

He'd just pulled her off the dumpster when the entire first floor of the building blew from the chemicals igniting and causing a domino effect as each floor above collapsed into the one below. They'd both dove into said dumpster and that's where Bonanno had found them. Wrapped in each other's hold covered in dirt, dust, trash...and blood. Probably Parker's blood.

Parker was currently resting in a 4th floor room along with Hardison who hadn't left her side since they'd arrived at the hospital. Parker had sustained a concussion, a dislocated shoulder and multiple cuts and bruises, some severe, but she'd live after that stunt she'd pulled. Bonanno could only figure the girl was part cat, and she was working her way through her 3rd or 4th life by now.

After securing Parker and Hardison in their van and sending them ahead to the hospital, he'd witnessed the arrival of the reinforces he'd called in when first heading to the scene. Together they'd stormed the apartment where Nate and the others were, only to find more surprises.

As they'd breached the door, the detective was just in time to take down the man standing over Nate and Sophie wearing a gas mask. The entire apartment was smoky from the concussion grenades and smoke bombs used to disorient the occupants, but Bonanno had seen his share of these types of situations so he knew what to do.

He as well as his men, went low and came in taking down all of the men that had managed to gain entry to the apartment. After that everything was a bit fuzzy for the people there. Sophie was conscious, but Nate wasn't and it looked like he'd taken a couple hits from the bruises on his face.

There was one woman, sitting huddled against one wall craddling a young girl that Bonanno figured must be Missy; there was another woman lying face up nearby, who was bleeding from a shoulder wound and there were two men lying unconscious near the front door.

In another area near the kitchen was another man slumped over the body of who Bonanno now knew was Just Quinn from Missy. Next to them sat a tall, dark haired woman of Iranian or Indian descent he guessed. He now knew this was the woman he'd spoken with earlier, Mikel. She was clutching a semi automatic rifle and it was aimed directly at him. She had immedately lowered the weapon when she'd seen him, guessing he wasn't a threat he figured now.

All in all, there had been a lot of damage to the apartment as well as the occupants. He knew the names of the players now, but he was still fuzzy on how everything had gone down and he needed to get it from Nate. He'd covered for him the last six hours at least as he'd left his men in charge of the injured and gone with Nate, Mikel, Colonel Vance, Major Whitmore and his wife Emma to meet up with where Evan was headed.

Evan had learned from Quinn exactly how to reach Eliot and Kat and he'd wasted no time leaving with some of his men to handle it. It seemed Quinn, at the threat of Missy's life, had told Evan about a couple, Sam and Bella who could contact Kat. Evan had left to find the couple and from what Bonanno now knew, Evan had taken Bella hostage, leaving Sam to go find Kat and Eliot and deliver them a message to meet him at is now vacant warehouse or Bella was dead.

Bonanno had gotten some info from the group on their drive to where they now knew Eliot would be, but he didn't have the whole picture. He had paperwork waiting for him that was going to take ten years to complete on this case.

The woman Libby, who'd been shot was now in her room also on the 4th floor along with her brother, Eric who'd taken a blow to the head and had a concussion. Libby's daughter Missy was being allowed to stay with her mother, since her mother had turned out to be resident at this same hospital.

Mikel had left after they'd done what they'd done to get to Eliot. She was in the wind, Bonanno supposed, but something told him he hadn't seen the last of her. Not by a long shot. She' keep in contact.

And he had no idea what had happened to the Wilsons. He knew from the others that they'd been in the apartment, but they weren't there when he'd arrived and currently they hadn't shown up anywhere. Right now, though they were at the bottom of his list.

Travis Quinn was currently occupying a hospital bed in the ICU department where they were sitting in the waiting room. So far he was improving, but the bullet that he'd taken had pierced his liver and the man had almost bled out on the apartment floor. His doctors were optimistic though and Bonanno figured he'd be okay in the end.

Vance and Whitmore were no one to be seen, so Bonanno figured they were outside talking. Those two were always talking; hiding their involvement was going to be hard, but he figured they were tryng to fix it so he wouldn't have to explain anything. Bonanno hoped the military was about to swoop in and take this all away so he wouldn't have to deal with it.

He smiled a little at the idea. It made sense considering their most valuable soldier was currently in surgery. Which led Bonanno right back to why they were there waiting in the waiting room right now.

Eliot had already been injured, but the two other shots he'd taken when they'd gotten to him were causing more trouble. His other lung had been punctured from a second chest injury and the bullet lodged in his leg had impacted his femur and fragmented. Doctors were currently working on the hitter while they sat waiting. The outloo was grim to say the least.

Nate looked at the detective when he hear the man heave a huge sigh. "He's going to be okay. He's always okay."

The detective didn't know if Nate was trying to convince him or his own self. He figured it was a little of both. "Yeah. Sure he will. The guy's a ninja. He's been hurt before, he'll make it." He paused. "You know, Eliot is the only man I've ever met that can take a bullet and still clean a room of all dangers incountered, all while carrying on a conversation with Hardison in his ear."

Nate smiled at that. "Yeah. The guy's like Batman, as Hardison would say." He paused then to take in a deep breath. "I don't know how Kat's doing, have you heard anything on her?"

The taller man hesitated before he answered. "Ummm... to tell you the truth, I'm not sure."

Sophie turned to look at the man. "What do you mean, detective?"

"Well, not to cause any more stress here, but umm... Kat isn't here."

This time is was Emma who questioned the detective. "How can she not be here? She was injured when she took that last bullet that would have killed my brother for sure. Where is she?"

"All I know is after everything settled down and both her and Eliot were being transfered here via ambulance, hers didn't arrive here. Eliot's did of course as you know, but Kat isn't here. We don't know what happened or where she is. And as far as the ambulance that picked her up, no one got a good look at the paramedics or the ambulance number. We just loaded them both in at the warehouse and shipped them here."


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter Forty

_I Wanna Paint Outside The Lines_

_Run The Red Lights In My Mind_

_Take Everything, One Lifetime Has To Give_

_I Wanna Stand Inside A Fire_

_Walk Blind-folded On A Wire_

_Every Man Dies_

_But Not Every Man Lives..._

Tuesday 09/13 about 4:00 AM

Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong; he could feel it... it or something... something wasn't right. There was definitely something wrong here.

Eliot could hear the steady beeping noise of something sort of... sort of mechanical, maybe? No, he thought as realization slowly dawned in his drug-addled brain. Not mechanical per se, but more like... like computer-y. Like one of Hardison's computers. Eliot knew that beeping sound as it slowly became clearer, sharper; that was the sound of hospital machines. He was in a hospital and he was hooked up to machines; again.

He breathed in slowly and despite the enormous pain he felt spreading throughout his body, he knew instantly he was in a hospital; not like before when he'd came around in Evan's place, but in a real hospital. There was no mistake this time around.

You couldn't fake that antiseptic smell that comes from long usage - it permeated everything like the walls; even the building itself. No, he was in a real hospital. And with that realization everything else come rushing back.

The pain he felt when trying to breathe was almost impossible to tolerate, but he managed to steady his breathing as he slowly exhaled. He felt as well as heard the steady beeping take on a more determined pitch until it was practically yelling in his ear. The sound reverberated through his skull. So much for getting his breathing under control with that noise screaming inside his head, he thought.

Eliot vaguely acknowledged the presence of someone else in the room with him; several someones were gently touching him, his hands, his forehead and they seemed to be whispering something to him. He barely made out the hushed words of 'relax' and 'everything's fine' before the pain in his chest slowly started to ease.

He clenched his eyes tightly shut as he slowly gave into the easing pressure that breathing had put on his lungs, until finally, gratefully, the pain slowly receded. He felt one of the someones, a nurse most likely, moving around him, straightening his bedding and adjusting the monitor attached to his hand. Maybe it was Kat...he sighed as deeply as he dared, as he thought of Kat. But something wasn't right with that assumption.

This person, this woman couldn't be Kat, because Kat was... was what? Kat was what? He tried hard to concentrate, but his brain was becoming numb to thoughts just as his body was becoming numb to the intense pain. He tried hard to think, but whatever he needed to remember was fluttering just beyond his reach. Just as he felt like he couldn't survive if he didn't remember what was eluding him, he felt his world tilt drastically to his right. He was losing his balance even though he knew without a doubt that he was lying perfectly still.

Just before he fell into that deep abyss of unconsciousness, he heard someone saying something... something about... _Kat is safe Eliot. You_ _saved Bella and her and she's says to tell you she's safe._ That was the last thing Eliot heard before he fell down that long dark tunnel of blackness.

_Somewhere in Eliot's unconscious_

_The headlights that had shown on the wall glinting off the bedside clock, were from the truck driven by Sam, a friend of Kat's , Eliot learned as the man came rushing into the cabin before Eliot even made it into the main area to the front door._

_He cursed himself for his slow reaction to what he perceived as danger. He was in bad shape if he couldn't even handle one man rushing him._

_The man Sam, rushed in without hesitation and stopped short when he spied Eliot standing in the doorway between the main room and the bedroom. He'd noticed the butcher knife in Eliot's hand and he seemed actually surprised by Eliot's presence here._

_"Where's Kat?" Sam rushed to ask as he took in Eliot standing, or more accurately leaning, in the doorway. " I need Kat." He begged. _

_Eliot blinked a couple times to access this situation. The man knew Kat, he knew this cabin well enough to barge in without knocking and he knew well enough that Kat would be in this cabin at this current time. This must be one of the friends Kat had mentioned had helped her get him here._

_"Sam? Your Sam, aren't you?" Eliot asked as he slowly stood up straight, still clutching the knife he'd grabbed from the nearby dining table just before Sam had burst into the room._

_"Yes. I'm Sam. And you're Eliot." Sam paused as he walked slowly closer to Eliot. "I need Kat's help; and yours." _

_Eliot could see the man was clearly upset and on edge. Something had happened, something bad. ""What's wrong? What's happened?"_

_Sam took a deep breath. "My wife, Bella... he took her. Evan has my wife and if I don't bring you to him, he's going to kill her. I have to bring you and Kat to him or else we all die."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nate Ford stood at the window watching the nurses as they worked with Eliot. He'd woken in pain they said, and he was clearly in distress as Nate watched one nurse give him something for the pain. Another seemed to be fussing with making hi comfortable and seemed to be speaking to him even though Nate suspected Eliot wouldn't know hwat she was saying to him.

Something he could only assume was morphine was being administered by the first nurse into one of his IV ports and as Nate witnessed the almost instant change in Eliot, he felt some relief in knowing the man wasn't going to suffer the pain for long. Nate could see him as he had first stuggled to breathe, then relaxing almost instantly after the medication hit his system.

He watched Emma leaned over her brother's still form opposite the second nurse who had then stepped away, and now she seemed to be speaking to him. Nate noticed how the lines on Eliot's face seemed to recede at whatever she was saying to him. Whatever it was, it was helping to relax her brother, and for that Nate was grateful.

He knew if Eliot woke up and found he was not only on the same machines he'd probably been on at Evan's place, but also on a ventilator to help control his breathing; he'd probably panic and fight them. He knew as well as Emma probably did that Eliot did not respond well to the unknown. Especially if he was disoriented.

Sam and Bella Thompson stood on one side of him, while Sophie stood on his other side. The two friends of Kat Malone-Wakefield had been watching Eliot since they'd arrived a little while ago; shortly after the police had released them from the warehouse scene they had been sent here. Detective Bonanno had them driven to the hospital to have Bella checked over, even though she had declared she was not injured.

"What do the doctors tell you, Mr. Ford? Will Eliot be all right?" Bella asked, slowly taking her eyes off the scene to look up at Eliot's friend. The man and his team had shown up just as everything was going from bad to worse, and it was their timely appearance that had probably saved them all.

Nate heaved a deep sigh as he gently smiled down at the woman. "They say he should be all right if no compications arise. His leg is broken from the impact of the bullet, but it was a clean break. The bullet fragments were the main concern with that wound. They had to be sure that all the fragments were removed."

"But?"

Nate smiled again as he realize the woman had read him. She could be a grifter with the way she was able to read people. "It's the second chest wound. It's causing some complications in his breathing based on the first wound. He was barely off the breathing machines from that, and now this second wound is dangerously close to the first. This has caused bleeding in his lungs and he's having trouble with the chest draining the blood. As quickly as it drains, his lungs fills up again and now he's on transfusions due to the blood loss. If the drainage doesn't ease up soon, he may need more surgery."

"Gotcha." She smiled reassuringly up at the mastermind, "It's a dangerous time, but I have no doubts in my mind that Eliot will be okay. On thing I've determined is it takes a lot to bring that man down." She looked up at her husband as she spoke. "Kat couldn't have picked a better man."

"Picked?" Sophie turned her attention to the other woman. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Kat's in love with that young man of yours. I think she probably was from the moment she chose to help him." She paused as she thought about Kat. "I don't know if she realized that at the time, but she is. She most definitely is."

Sopie smiled as she added, "And what's more, Eliot is in love with her. That much I could tell in the way the two of them watched out for each other in that warehouse." The two women shared a look as both men watched. "Speaking of Kat, Bella...have you heard what happened with her? Patrick said that her ambulance never made it to the hospital and they aren't sure where she is." She lifted soft eyes to meet Nate's. "We know how hard it is to not know the whereabouts of someone you care so very deeply for."

Bella looked at the beautiful woman next to Nate. She was a reader, Bella could tell, and she knew the woman was reading her right this moment. She smiled softly. "Honestly, I have no idea where Kat is, but I do know that she's fine. Of that I am positive."

"How can you be so positive about that?" Nate asked.

"Because I haven't heard anything." She answered again as honestly as she could. "If something had happened, we'd know." Bella indicated her husband. "We're listed as her next of kin and if something was wrong, if she'd died..." She trailed off.

"Got it." Sophia said. "Enough said."

"But I promise you, for Eliot's sake, if we do hear anything we will pass it along. Promise." Sam added for his wife.

"Yes, promise..." Bella said on a sigh as the four turned back to look at Eliot who was resting peacefully now. "We promise."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hardison sat staring at his computer screen as Parker slept soundly next to him in the big hospital bed. She'd missed the events at the warehouse, but Hardison had hacked into the security cameras so he could show her when she woke up.

And as he rewatched the recording he'd made of the whole event, he couldn't help but be thankful that she had missed it. So much had gone down since all hell broke loose at the flower shop.

First that assaault, then Quinn almost died; not to mention he almost lost Parker when the building exploded practically on top of them in that alley. Thank God Bonanno had shown up in time to clear the bad guys from the apartment and get to Nate and Sophie.

When they'd found out that Quinn had given up Sam and Bella to Evan to stop the attack and the threats to Missy and her family, Nate, Sophie and Hardison had headed to Vermont as soon as they knew Parker was stable. They had just crossed the state line, when Nate's cell had rung.

The call they'd been praying for, for days. The call had to be from Eliot. Only it wasn't going to be good news, he knew that much; and he'd been right, it wasn't. It was the worst news. The absolute worst, or so they'd thought at the time.

_"Nate? It's me." Came the voice in Nate's ear._

_Both Sophie and Hardison heard the voice through their earbuds and they exchanged a triumphant glance; finally they were hearing from Eliot.. Then came the words they had dreaded for the past few days._

_"Can't really talk right now, but I need your help."_

_"What do you need?" Nate knew better than to waste time with questions about what had happened since he'd gone missing. "We're headed your way. We just crossed over into Vermont."_

_"Well, turn around. I'm not there anymore. I'm headed to a warehouse down by the docks in Boston and I need Hardison to hack into whatever it is he hacks into. Someone has taken a friend of a friend and I'm going to get her back. It's a long story, but just so you know it's my past coming back to haunt me." Eliot sighed before continuing. "It's my brother and I've got to end this once and for all."_

_"Give me the address." Nate said and Hardison began typing immediately as soon as he heard the address Eliot gave. Nate knew better than to waste time letting Eliot know they knew all about Kat, Bella and Sam now, so he just waited for Hardison to let him know he was in. _

_"Nate, that's the warehouse we were at before. Evan's warehouse where we found the body of that soldier." Hardison said as he watched the camera feeds pop up on the screens in Lucille. He remembered everything that Whitmore and Vance told him as well as the Wilsons when they'd first arrived at the apartment yesterday._

_"Sophie, call Emma and tell her, Vance and Whitmore we're changing direction." Nate whispered moving the cell from his face as he instructed the grifter. The last thing he wanted right now was to alert Eliot that his family was here as well._

_"Damnit, Nate! Did you call my family?!" Nate as well as Sophie and Hardison heard the words that came from his cell, which caused Sophie to hesitate pulling out her own cell phone._

_So much for trying to keep that secret. Nate slowly moved the cell back to his ear. "Ummm, maybe..." _

_"Nate, so help me..." Eliot had stopped to drag in a ragged breathe. Breathing was so gonna be a problem if he kept getting this kind of news. "Okay, too late to stop that. Vance and Matt will be helpful anyway. Tell them to prep for a Fort Apache approach; they'll know what that means; and Nate..."_

_Hardison sucked in his breath at the way Eliot's voice had changed from his initial anger to this soft barely audible tone when he spoke Nate's name._

_"Yes, Eliot?" Nate prodded._

_"Just... keep Sophie and Parker and... and Emma away from the warehouse and the computers. Earbuds too." He paused as he knew that they were all probably listening to him right now through Nate's earbud. "and tell Emma I'm sorry."_

_Nate sucked in a breath. "What do you mean Eliot?"_

_"Just what I said. Tell Emma I'm sorry about...about everything. And tell her I tried."_

_Sophie couldn't contain herself any longer. She reached for Nate's phone. "What did you try Eliot? What are you going to do?"_

_"Goodbye, Sophie." _

_Hardison stared at Sophie as she lowered Nate's phone. They all looked at each other as they realized exactly what the man was thinking of doing._

_"Hardison, get those security cameras online and... and if you can find a way to stall Eliot do it; I'm positve he'll get there before us." Nate instructed. "Sophie call Emma and tell her we're going back and what Eliot said." He added softly._

_"Why me?"_

_"Because...because for once, for once, being a woman is why." He softened his tone. "And because Emma will need to hear it from someone she knows cares about Eliot just as much as she does, and because I'm asking you to." His eyes pleaded with hers as they both knew what he was asking her to do._

_Sophie quietly nodded and used his phone to dial Emma. She and the others were following Lucille and she knew once Nate turned around and headed back, they'd be calling anyway. They didn't have any earbuds thankfully since the attack at the flower shop had destroyed most of Hardison's supply, so they didn't know Eliot had called._

_Sophie didn't know how she was going to do this, but she knew she had to do this for Eliot. She had to tell his sister that Eliot was heading into the fray to rescue someone and that he fully intended to not survive this time. How was she supposed to tell her that Eliot might not make it out alive this time?_

Hardison shook his head to clear his thoughts as he fine tuned the video on his monitor. It really didn't need any more fine tuning, but he couldn't bring himself to move on to something else. He couldn't bring himself to not watch the video again as he hit replay and prepared to watch exactly how Eliot and the woman known only as Kat to them had walked quietly and confidently into that warehouse seemingly unarmed.

He watched again as he listened to the conversation he alreay knew so well. "Okay, Evan. You wanted me here and here I am. Let the women leave and I'm all yours. Just as soon as they've cleared out, you can do what you've been waiting to do for a long time." Eliot waited as one of Evan's men released Bella and she ran to join Kat standing near Eliot.

"Let them go. They won't be any problem to hunt down later." Evan instructed his men. "That is, if I even want to." He smiled as he watched Eliot. "Right now, all I want is to watch the great Eliot Spencer die a painful death by my hand."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat slowly opened her eyes as she looked up into the deep blue eyes looking down at her. At first she thought they must belong to Eliot, but as she blinked a few times, she realized they were too blue. Eliot's eyes were more grey in this light. She blinked a few more times and took in the soft light in the room as well as the man bending over her. Benji, she realized with a small sigh. She smiled to let him know she was awake, but she couldn't hide her disappointment at the fact he was not Eliot.

"Hey... about time you woke up. We were beginning to worry." The young nurse replied as he moved to sit next to her on the large bed.

Kat took in the fact she was in a room and not a hospital. Good, she thought. Her identity in Boston was burned thanks to Evan and the recent events, so this meant she was in a private residence.

"We?" She questioned, as she breathed in slowly, realizing she really wasn't experiencing much pain. "Where am I, Benji? Where's Eliot?"

The young man reached over her head where an IV bag hung from the bedpost and adjusted the drip. "You're at Joy's fathers' home just outside Boston. My mom, Flo is here and so is Joy and her dad. He was a doctor, but he's retired now." He watched as she took in everything he was telling her and he noticed how her brow wrinkled as he spoke. He heaved a sigh; she knew he wasn't telling her everything. She could always tell. "You weren't injured too severely, the bullet entered your abdomen and thanks to Aaron and Tracy who responded to the call at the warehouse, they were able to load you up and get you out. Aaron called mom, and mom called Joy's dad. She knew him before he retired and apparently still knows him."

Kat listened to the man and knew he was avoiding her other question. "So, I'll live. Good to know." She said as she decided to let the guy stew for a few minutes wondering when she'd attack him about Eliot. "What about Evan and the rest of the Eliot's team, and Bella? How's Bella?"

"Everyone got out unharmed as far as we know, well almost everyone..." He trailed off.

Okay, she thought that's not good. "Benji, please..."

The young man sighed as he looked at her. He was about to make an excuse to leave the room, when Florence, his mother came to his rescue.

"Most everyone is safe Kat. You and your young man saved everyone." She spoke from the doorway. She slowly walked into the room and gently put her hand on her son's shoulder. "Benji, hon, why don't you go get some rest. I'll take over now."

"Sure. See you later, Kat."

Kat watched the man leave the room an then watched as Florence moved a chair up close to the bed and sat down to face her. She sat silently for a few minutes, then she reached for a notebook and pen on the nightstand and she made seemed to be making notes in it.

"What are you doing?" Kat asked softly.

Florence looked up from her work to smile gently at her. "Just making some notes on your care. We may not be in a hospital, but paperwork is a necessity to make sure we don't forget anything." She put the notebook back down on the nightstand and then she took a dep breath. "Before you go asking me about Eliot, this is what I know. He was taken to Mass Gen in critical condition. He was shot twice more, but you probably remember that." At Kat's quiet nod, she continued, "One bullet entered his left leg impacting with the femur bone causing a clean break. However the bullet fragmented on impact and it took several hours to collect all the fragments in surgery, but it helped tremendously that the femur itself wasn't shattered."

Kat agreed with that as a shattered femur would be weeks of rest and PT care not to mention the possibility of steel rods being needed and she knew Eliot was not the kind of man that would take to staying in bed for a few days, let alone weeks. And that all depended on surviving the blood loss as well as surgery to reconstruct the femur. She sighed heavily as she waited for Flo to come to a stop and when she didn't immediately begin again, Kat asked, "But what aren't you telling me?"

"The young man was also shot in the chest in the opposite lung as the first wound he already had. That wound is the most serious and all I know right now is he's in the SICU and on a ventilator."

Kat sucked in her breath at that. That wasn't a good thing; it meant he wasn't breathing on his own. "Tell me all of it."

Flo continued as if she were talking to one of her fellow nurses on duty. "This new pulmonary laceration has caused the first one to re-open and Eliot has blood building up in his lungs. He has two chest tubes working to drain the blood from both his lungs and the pleural cavity, but because of the blood he's losing, he has to be on transfusions and from what I understand, his drainage tubes aren't draining as quickly as they could be. This is causing the breathing problems as you know, and that's why he's being kept sedated and on the vetilator. From a friend, I understand he woke up briefly, about an hour ago and had to be sedated for the pain. They have been forewarned that he might not understand what the tubes all mean and they are hoping that he will begin to drain the blood a little faster in the hope of getting him off the ventilator within the next 24 hours."

Kat knew the prognosis for that if he didn't. The longer he was on the vent the less better his chances at survival were. "Have they thought about a tracheostomy?" She asked hoping the surgical placement of a tube inside his trachea might help and would definitely get rid of the ventilator, but she knew the odds of that since he'd already been through surgery probably several hours for both his chest and his leg. "Never mind, I know better. They won't even think of doing that if his bleeding isn't better, because he could die on the table. The bleeding is the big thing right now."

"Yes." Flo said softly. "But after what Aaron told me he learned about him, this man Eliot is a fighter and I think God helps those that fight. I don't know much about him, but I'm willing to bet he's a good man and he'll be fine and he has his family surrounding him. From what I understand there are quite a few people at the hospital for him, so that alone tells me he's a good man."

Kat smiled as the tears filled her eyes. "Eliot doesn't think he's a good man, and no one can make him believe that." She said quietly.

"Oh I don't doubt that, but if you decided to help him, then there's something there in him that's good. You wouldn't have given him the time of day if it wasn't. And because of that I know in my heart that God is watching over him."

Kat smiled again as she listened to the woman, but she knew in her heart if Eliot met God at the gates of Heaven, he'd tell him He'd made a mistake and jump ship if that were possible. He'd be the first to probably even convince God He'd made a mistake because Eliot already had himself destined to an afterlife of pennance in Hell. Not even God Himself would be able to convince Eliot Spencer that he was a good man.

AN: Okay I fully expected chapter 40 to be the last chapter, but now that I'm here I realize I need to add one more to tie up the warehouse part of the story. And no you have not missed a chapter, I just skipped ahead and am doing some backtracking so sorry if I've confused everyone. Bare with me and all (or mostly all) will be revealed, and no I didn't kill Eliot either! Not yet, anyway...


	41. Chapter 41

AN: Okay everyone - here it is the last chapter. Feels great and sad at the same time. Finally finished my baby... now set to writing the sequel. I hope you enjoy it and please send those reviews my way. Thanks so much, you guys have been wonderful throughout this long journey.

CHAPTER 41

_I Wanna Stand Inside The Fire..._

_Walk Blind-folded On A Wire..._

_Every Man Dies... But Not Every Man Lives..._

_Have You Ever Skipped A Stone Across The Water..._

_Have You Eve Hitched A Free Ride On A Train..._

_Every Man Dies... Every Man Dies..._

Eliot lay in the large hospital bed pretending to sleep while he listened to the muted voices that were too close. The voices, Nate and Sophie's to be exact, were quietly disputing what needed to be done as far as Eliot was concerned. They were in disagreement of whether or not Eliot needed to know about everything that had happened so far; which he was sure meant they didn't know whether to tell him or not that Kat was gone.

He really wished they'd take their arguement outside his room, because the one thing Eliot was good at, even more than his masterly survival skills, was hearing what wasn't supposed to be heard. Eliot had the best ears in the business, a little known fact he kept to himself. How else did they think he could distinguish the very distinctive differences between certain types of sounds? The skill helped him when he had to stake out his targets, or lurk as Hardison had taken to saying. _You a lurker Eliot; a lurker, and that ain't right, man. Not right at all._

Eliot quietly smiled to himself as he remembered surprising Hardison and Nate once with his lurking ability. What they hadn't latched onto was the fact that he'd heard every word that had passed between them and the client at the time. Hardison only commented on his lurking, but forgot that he'd heard the entire conversation as well. Yep, Eliot heard a lot more than his team gave him credit for.

Finally when the words _she's gone_ and _can't be found_ passed through his brain, he'd had enough. "Stop." He said in a neutral tone, but just loud enough to instantly gain their immediate attention. He slowly opened his eyes to see the two watching him from their stance by the door to his room.

"Eliot..." Sophie began, her eyes neutral. She was in grifter mode, he noticed; which meant she was hiding something from him.

No Soph..." He stopped her as he took in a slow breath. He'd been removed from that damned ventilator just that morning and while his voice was still a little ragged, it was surprising strong. It was his throat that was still a little raw from the torture of that tube and breathing too deeply not only rubbed his throat wrong, it also brought renewed pain to his chest. His new wounds were even worse than the first two he'd had to endure. Now he had so many holes in his body he couldn't help but feel like he was losing air from all of them. He carefully grabbed the hanging bar over his head to help pull himself up into a more comfortable position, but with his leg hanging slightly above the bed getting the leverage he needed wasn't easy.

Nate as well as Sophie quickly moved to his bedside to be prepared to offer their help. They knew he would refuse unless he just couldn't get by without it, but they also knew that while he was a proud man, he wasn't stupid. If he needed help to avoid further injury, he'd ask.

"I'm okay, guys. Gotta be able to move on my own eventually." He grumbled when Nate swore under his breath at the pained looks Eliot was giving them each time he moved even the slightest bit. "But I'm thinking that ain't right now." He paused as he unscrunched his eyes and focused on Nate. "Don't just stand there, Nate. Help me sit up." He grinned slightly to show he understood the man's frutrastration with him.

Nate shook his head and moved over to grip the younger man under his shoulders and help him shift a bit higher up in the bed while Sophie carefully pushed the button to slowly raise the bed for him; they worked in tandem to get him where he wanted to be.

"Better?" Nate asked when it seemed the hitter was settled into a more upright position.

"Yeah, better." Eliot spoke quietly before looking the older man directly in the eye. "And... I'll be even better if you... could hurry these doctors up and get... me outta this place. I hate hospitals... and I'd rather be back at my place in my own... bed where I can focus on healing up by myself." He tried to breath in between words, because it was hard to breath and talk, but he just ended up in more pain. He needed to stick to short answers, he reminded himself.

"Eliot, you were just shot this second time barely two days ago, there is no way the doctors are going to let you leave until your levels are where they want them. It's barely been a complete week since you were shot the first time and now these new wounds have aggravated everything Kat did to get you on your feet then." Sophie stopped when she realized she'd spoken Kat's name. She panicked and quickly looked at Nate for help. They'd been trying hard to keep him unaware of where the woman was, and now she'd gone and mentioned her.

Eliot quietly chuckled as he looked at Sophie's panicked face. He winced as the pain shot through him, but he couldn't help that these two were trying their best not to upset him thinking he'd break if they brought up Kat. All this time as a team and they didn't really understand him on this front. But that was his fault, he guessed, since he liked to keep his romantic life off limits with the team and he never mixed those two parts of his life... until now.

"You don't have to panic Sophie. I know Kat's not here... and I know you don't know... where she is."

Nate's eyebrows shot upward as he focused on Eliot. "You know?"

"Yeah, Nate. I know." He said quietly. "And you two can stop right now on... with the arguing about... how to tell me about it. I've always known... she wouldn't be here. Her life... the way she has to live... well, it's like I've had to... do my whole life... you have to move on. Her identity... here is burned. She'll need to... move on... somewhere else and... reinvent herself." He said as he moved his arm to cover his bare chest as he slowly breathed in and out between words. Short sentences were easy, but longer speeches required more oxygen and his lungs were still getting used to just being able to keep air inside them. They didn't have the strength to handle breathing and talking so Eliot ended up sounded winded when he spoke.

"But..." Sophie began. Listening to Eliot's explanation made sense, but something nagged at her and she didn't know how to put it into words. She wanted Eliot to be happy and he'd seemed happy with Kat from what little they'd learned about her, but he knew she'd move on. Yet, something wasn't quite right... Then it hit her. He knew she'd move on, yes...but he hadn't asked how she was. He might not know she'd been shot saving him.

They knew because they'd watched it unfold, Sophie and Emma from inside Lucille with Hardison while Nate with Vance and Matthew from the warehouse. They'd seen Evan slowly tormenting Eliot and they couldn't get inside to him in time. Then suddenly Kat was there to take the last bullet meant to kill their hitter... and it was Kat who had finally stopped Evan Chapman.

Having this new knowledge caused more anxiety within Sophie as she tried to figure a way around Eliot finding out too soon about Kat's injury along with her disappearance. She would have to talk with Nate as soon as possible, but first she needed Eliot stable. She wished she knew where the woman was, because right now Eliot needed her.

He had his family and his team, and normally that would have been great for anyone else, but Sophie knew in her heart it wasn't everything Eliot wanted. His team he could deal with, but having Matthew and Emma close was going to be hard on him. Eliot would't want them to see him hurting like this; he'd want them to get back to their lives and not be worrying about him. He'd crawl even deeper inside himself if they stayed too long. Add his missing Kat to that, and he'd probably end up taking off for God knew where to hide until he was able to pack all the pain down deep and put a lid on it.

He'd never mention her again to them, and they'd never know what exactly had happened between Kat and their hitter. The topic would be off limits and that just hurt Sophie to think about it. She'd just have to make sure he knew he could talk to them.

Eliot took pity on Sophie misinterpreting the expressions that crossed her face for worry about his health and is feelings for Kat. "Nate, why don't you... go hunt up one... one of those doctors. I want out... of here by... by morning." He turned to Nate and tried to convey his need to speak with Sophie alone.

"Ummm, yeah I'll go do that." Nate said as he moved away from the two and left the room.

Eliot turned to face Sophie and he allowed most of his defenses to melt away. He knew she needed to see him, not just the hitter, but him. She needed to know that he was still their Eliot as well as a man who had loved and most likely lost. "Soph..." He began in his soft dusty voice that Kat had said was like taking a long shot of Whiskey and honey in one quick move. "I know Kat's okay and I know... I'll see her again. You don't... don't need to worry about... me pining away." He tried to put into words what he felt she needed to hear. "I'm fine. Yes... I miss her, but I know this isn't the end. So don't... worry so much. I'll find her... or she'll find me. And I'm not going... to sulk... around like a dewy-eyed schoolboy."

"But Eliot - it's more than just knowing you'll handle it or get along without her." She paused as she tried to think of how to do this. Nate hadn't wanted to tell Eliot anything yet, but Sophie knew from personal experience it was better to know when someone you care about is injured as well as missing. She knew Eliot would need to know.

This time Eliot reached out and took one of Sophie's hands in his. He'd always loved a woman's hands and Sophie's were strong, yet soft at the same time with her long tapering fingers and warm palms. "Soph...I know you're trying to tell me something... something else. And I... already know." He looked deep into her eyes. "But I also know she's all right."

"How can you know that?" She asked quietly as she moved to settle herself next to him on the large bed. "How can you know she's okay?"

Eliot heaved as deep a sigh as he dared and released Sophie's hands when she settled next to him. The movement caused a slight ripple of pain to coarse through his chest, but he could feel the painkiller taking effect as he watched the monitor attached to the PCA machine showing it would deliver the medication whether he wanted it or not. "I remember what happened... in that warehouse Sophie... and I know what Kat did to save me. I spent five days... with the woman and I don't think there is anyone... I would trust more to have my back than her. I know what she's had... to survive in the past and... nd I know she will be fine. I know I'll be fine."

Sophie smiled at that. The man was nothing if not painfully self sufficient. "I know you think you'll be fine, but I still worry. Love is a hard thing Eliot and I know you love her."

He couldn't help the grin that broke out on his face. "You're worried about my love life when you and... and Nate... are trying to keep everything you guys are... doing on the down low? I mean, yeah... you two told us so we'd know, but you guys are still walking around on egg shells with each other... and... and you're worried about my love life?"

"Yes, I suppose you're right. I shouldn't be talking about you and your life when I don't even know where mine is headed." She laughed softly as she thought about it. "But I can't help it, Eliot. I worry about you. I worry about all of you."

"Yes, mom." He replied without thinking. Then laughed till he started coughing and choking for air at the horrified look on Sophie's face. He sputtered between laughter and tryng to breathe as she looked at him.

"Eliot Spencer!" She started to reach for his call button, but stopped when his hand gently but firmly gripped her wrist and pulled it away. He slowly took in several breathes to get back in control before he spoke. "I'm fine Sophie, really..."

"Yeah right. Sure you are. You big lump of hair and muscle and... and bullet holes! You'll be fine! You're always fine! And I am not old enough to be a mother, let alone yours!" She replied indignantly as she watched him trying hard not to laugh again for fear of a repeat of this last coughing session. "Fine. If you're so fine, then you can just lay there laughing and coughing and... and choking while I go find Nate and those doctors and tell them to shackle you to your bed for at least another week no matter what you say." She got up grumbling about men and their idiotic behavior as she walked out the door leaving Eliot caught between the laughing and the notion that she just might convince the doctors to keep him if she put on her best Sophie Devereaux grift.

"Sophie! Get... back here!" But it was too late. The woman was out the door before he could get the sentence out.

He didn't see the devilish grin on her face as she focused in on Nate along with Emma speaking to one of Eliot's doctors just down the hall. _Call her_ _mom would he? Well, we'll just see about that!_ She squared her shoulders and smoothed a non existent wrinkle from her skirt and with a final shake of her hair she headed off in their direction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So this is what I've been able to piece together happened after we spoke to Eliot on the phone when we turned back to head to the warehouse." Hardison said as he focused in on the other people in the room.

Haridson and Parker, who had been released from the hospital the day after being admitted, Nate and Sophie were in Nate's loft along with Vance and Matthew. Emma was at the hospital making sure Eliot did the full week that Sophie had managed to convince Eliot's doctors he needed before even being allowed to leave the ICU department. They had readily agreed - that was a no brainer for them - but the extra two weeks she tried to tack on to that was a little harder. While the doctors had been convinced it was necessary, it was Nate who had to step in and pull Sophie back, because he knew that Eliot would just give the hopital staff a harder time for it.

While Nate was ready to let the hitter stay there for six months if needed he knew Eliot would escape the first chance he got, so it was futile to get the hospital staff involved in her scheme. He didn't know for sure what Eliot had said to Sophie, but after their little talk yesterday, Sophie was on a mission. He'd figured it out later though and he'd had to laugh at how the woman had grifted her way through the hospital staff and gotten everything she'd wanted, much to Eliot's chagrin.

He smiled to himself as he figured it would be worth it though since every minute Eliot was in the hospital was a minute towards his recovery. He could smile now without worry, since the doctors no longer termed Eliot's care as survival, but as recovery. Their hitter was going to be fine, albeit he had a long road to get back to 100 percent, but he was back home and he was safe. He couldn't help thinking that this Kat person had done her job. She'd saved Eliot. She'd taken him out of danger and cared for him and when the end came she'd taken the final bullet meant to kill him. She'd killed Evan Chapman before he could kill Eliot and she'd given him back to them.

So it didn't matter what had gone down in the warehouse really, because he knew everything he needed to know. Now all he really needed to know was just how well Eliot would be. Not because of Kat, but because of his brother. His past. How would Eliot be after he processed all of this history about his brother and what he'd become? Would they get their hitter back the way he'd been before? Or would there always be something in his past that could come out of the woodwork and take him from their grasp again?

Nate heaved a heavy sigh as he tried to listen to Hardison explaining everything with Vance and Whitmore's help on what had happened before they had gotten to the warehouse. Nate knew he couldn't do much about this situation, but there was one other thing he wanted to focus on once everyone went back to their respective lives. He'd have to handle his travel plans himself as he wouldn't want Hardison having to help keep his secrets, especially from Eliot. He'd already had the hacker set up the necessary bank accounts with two different banks here in Boston. Nate had then contacted both banks and made sure they sent enough money to the bank in the city he would be heading to soon. He'd also contacted one of the doctors that had helped care for Sam. The doctor had found the best oncologist in the states and he was prepared to take on this case for Nate if and when he was needed.

Now there was just one more thing Nate intended to do as soon as he could and he knew that Eliot couldn't know about this. Eliot had to face his past on his own. He'd had to face Emma in the hospital and he'd have to face the rest of it soon. And to do that, Nate knew that one part of Eliot's past needed to be around when he did.

Nate was going to take on this job alone. Eliot had saved all of them at one point or another. Eliot had saved his own family as well as his team family more than he'd hurt them no matter what he thought and Nate knew Emma had saved Eliot this time as well as Kat. The two most important women in Eliot's life had his best interests at heart; and now so did Nate. He smiled again as he realized that if the others thought of Sophie like a mom, then he must be like the dad and as such he needed to protect his family. So, first chance he got he was going to make sure Eliot got the chances he deserved.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in Eliot's musings as he listened with glazed eyes while Emma continued to rip him up one side and down the other about what a huge pain in the ass brother he was and how she was so going to make sure Nathan Ford and his team chained him to the furnace whenever he got a wild hair to take on something like that warehouse scene ever again...

"

_What the hell is a Fort Apache approach?" Sam asked over his shoulder as he steered the SUV he was driving onto the main highway heading for Boston. They were making good time and should be at the warehouse within the hour. _

_Kat was sitting in the back seat behind Sam while Eliot rode next to her. He'd said riding in the back would look better if anyone watched them arrive at the warehouse. He'd wanted Kat in the back with him so that Evan's men wouldn't see her until the last minute. _

_"It means I need coverage to all exits except one. I want one way in and one way out." Eliot paused as he worked on the bandage closest to the open neck of his shirt. It was coming undone since he'd pulled the scrubs off and dressed quickly in jeans and a shirt that Sam kept at the cabin in case he needed them. They were roughly the same size with the exception that Sam had two inches on him and this meant the jeans were a bit long, but with the heavy workboots Eliot had found on the back porch of the cabin, he figured he'd be okay._

_"How are they going to do that if we get there first?" Kat asked as she pushed his hands away from the bandage and reached over to retape it with the tape she'd pulled from the medical supply bag Sam and Bella kept in the car for emergencies. "Stop that. You'll get it messed up and then you'll get it infected. I did not come all this way to have you keel over from a damn infection Eliot Spencer."_

_Eliot couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at her tone. When she looked up sharply at him, he held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, darlin'. Just haven't met a woman in a very long time that I can go toe to toe with."_

_"Yeah, right." She replied with sarcasm. But as she lowered her head to work on the bandage while he relaxed next to her, she slowly let the small smile take over. When she'd finished the job, she reached to button the button over it, but leave a couple undone in case she needed to get to the wound again. "Okay, now again, how is your team going to know what to do since we will be there first?"_

_"Because that's the way we work...or did work." He paused as he searched into the bag that Kat had brought with them that she'd pulled from the back of the closet. The bag contained several guns with extra ammo and clips, but it was the knife holster that he latched onto. He pulled it out of the bag and looked at her questioningly._

_Kat smiled as she saw the rather unorthodox gear and probably not most men's choice of weapon, but it was important to her. "That was Joe's, my older brother. He didn't much care for guns and he may have had to carry a rifle when on duty in the military, but he prefered a quieter approach. Said he liked knowing he could control where a knife went."_

_Eliot paused as he looked at her. He'd not heard of anyone else feeling the same way he did about weapons. "What about guns?" He asked as he manuevered his way into the holster adjusting the straps to the right length under his arms. _

_"Joe didn't like guns. Said you could control everything until that bullet left the barrel, after that it was up to God. Personally, I think he preferred close contact with the enemy. Look them in the eye, you know?" Kat spoke quietly, but she couldn't help noticing how Eliot's fingers rubbed the well worn leather as if it was a new toy. He paused though, when she mentioned God. "You prefer knives over guns?" She asked watching his expression._

_Eliot looked up into her eyes. "Yeah. And I can agree with your brother up to a point."_

_"Which point? Having control or not?"_

_Eliot smirked as he replied, "Niether. About God. In my experience when the bullet leaves the barrel of the, it ain't God controlling it."_

_She met his eyes as he finished adjusting the straps and she couldn't help but see that for just a second he'd let his defenses down. "Yeah, I guess I can agree with you there." She replied quietly._

"Eliot? Are you even listenng to me at all?" Emma finally reached out and poked him as she'd been trying to get his attention for the past minute.

"Ow!" Eliot said as he felt the poke to his uninjured left side. "What was that for?"

"You were tuning me out... again. Just like you always do when you don't want to listen to me." She said as the anger slowly faded from her tone. "You were in your own little world there..."

She could see it in his eyes. Eliot had always had their father's eyes more than she had and Eliot may have learned how to close himself off from others, but not her. No matter how far apart they were, she could always read his eyes. She sighed heavily as she knew there was no way she would ever get him to stop taking responsibility for every disaster that happened in this world. The man was a walking billboard that advertised "dump your crap on me - I can take it".

"What?" Eliot asked again as he heard her sigh. "Stop worrying about me, Em."

"Stop worrying about you? Really? Just stop worrying about you like I can stop Spence from eating all the greeen M &amp; M's in the bag first thanks to you? Do you even know how to stop worrying about everything and everyone around you?"

Eliot chuckled at the M &amp; M's statement, as it was his fault Spencer liked them the best.

"Yeah laugh it up, bullet hole boy. Thanks to you, Spencr thinks the more gren ones he can eat the more he'll be like his Uncle Eliot and his father; big and strong and can take down anything."

Eliot raised his eyebrows at her. " 'Bullet hole boy?' That the best you can do?"

Emma looked at him with the look only mothers could master, but it always worked on Spencer and Matt. And now it would work on Eliot, she thought. "Don't you even go there with me. You try my patience Eliot Spencer and I am not responsible for what comes out of my mouth when I'm talking about you." She gave in as she took in his soft puppy dog look that Eliot always saved for just her. "All right, lay off the puppy eyes." She chuckled as she watched a nurse come into the room just in time to catch Eliot's sad pathetic look. She didn't know what was funnier, the fact that Eliot would have never let anyone else see that look or the new look as the nurse began fusing over him thinking he was in pain.

And as she got up to leave the room while the nurse fused over him and to take a break, she couldn't help smiling to herself when she heard Eliot's reply to the nurse questioning him on his pain level.

"Can't be more than a three right now, so I think I can handle that sponge bath darlin'."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat sat in the large porch swing on the porch in the pajamas Flo had given her as she watched the sun coming up over the large home to the east. She sipped her coffee and stretched to help ease the stiffness in her side. A couple more days of healing and she'd be ready to start moving around more to work the stiffness completely from her bones.

She sat there alone thinking of Eliot. Flo had been keeping an ear out and knew he was going to be all right. When she'd told Kat that he was off the ventilator and resting better, she'd been so relieved... and happy. She knew she should leave soon, to move on, but right now she felt she was safe enough to allow her to contine to recover.

Flo didn't know what Kat had done at the warehouse before they'd gotten her out of there, no one did except Eliot and probably his team, but all that mattered to Kat was that Eliot was alive because of what she'd done and he was back with his team; that was the most important thing right now to her.

Flo and Benji were in agreement that she should stay in Boston. The doctor and Evan were gone and Eliot was the only person who knew the real her, and they were sure she'd be safe here. But Kat knew they just didn't want her to leave. She was at a crossroads herself on leaving, because of what she'd found here as well, but she needed to think rationally. If she wanted to continue saving those that needed it, she needed to be prepared to move on.

It excited her to think one day she could run into Eliot again, but it also kind of scared her as well. Seeing him again would bring up how much she'd done for him, how much she'd sacrificed of her walls just for him. No one, especially a man had ever seen her for who she really was. No one knew the whole story of her life. No one knew what she was capable of doing to save a life. No one that was with the exception of Eliot Spencer. In less than 5 days that man knew everything there was to know about Katharine Malone-Wakefield and that both scared and thrilled her at the same time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Sophie had seen that Hardison meant to go through the video footage of the warehouse scene next, she decided she didn't want to sit through that again. She couldn't watch as Eliot went down again. She'd seen it first hand and it had ben hard enough then. She didn't really want Parker to see the footage either, but knew that the girl probably wouldn't leave.

"Ummm, I'm not really interested in watching this again, Nate." She turned to meet his eyes next to her as she whispered to only him. He nodded and she quietly got up from the table making her excuses. "Hardison, I think I'll leave this to you men to peruse, while I just go do a little shopping. Eliot's gonna need a few things when he gets home."

Parker looked at Sophie then at Nate. She wanted desperately to see what had happened to Eliot, but for some odd reason she suddenly had the urge to make sure Sophie was okay. She didn't know exactly why, but her mind was telling here she should go with Sophie. Maybe she was crazy after all, but she knew if she begged Hardison would play it for her in private so she really wouldn't miss anything and she kind of had the need to get outside.

She'd been cooped up since getting out of the hospital herself and her shoulder, whie it still hurt, wasn't as bad today; and she relly wanted to get some stuff for Eliot too. Some kind of welcome home gift. Maybe a new set of knives since everything in his safe house was lost. "Can I come too Sophie?"

Sophie almost fell over on her way to the apartment door when she heard Parker ask that, but she quickly regained her composure and smiled at the girl. "Of course, sweetie. I'd love the company. And you can help me remember everything Eliot lost in his safe house. We'll get everything he needs to stay here with Nate while he recooperates." She continued to smile as she winked at Nate.

"Great." Hardison said as the two women left the apartment. "Okay, since the girls aren't going to be seeing this, I'll just change things a bit and play the entire video. I had planned on cutting out most of the actual shooting because Sophie and Emma already saw it, and I didn't want Parker... well, I didn't want her to see El like that."

Nate grinned slightly and just nodded his head as he watched the young hacker work his keyboard magic, before the screens in front of them came alive with sight and sound.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat froze when she heard Eliot's words after one of Evan's men released Bella and she grabbed her to send her to safety. She knew she'd make it, because Evan's men were dispatched all around the warehouse, but Eliot had chosen the one door they weren't guarding as closely. His one way in was their one way out.

Evan had men all around the main entrance and exit doors, but he'd neglected to focus on the door to the office that led to a side door to the outside. There Nate waited for the two women so he could get them back to the van while Matthew, Vance and some men they'd called for help watched the main entrance just outside of Evan's men's sights.

Eliot knew from experience this layout would mean the main entrance and exit doors would be where Evan would put all his attention. He knew Evan. So he'd made sure Vance and Matthew knew to watch this other exit for Bella and Kat. It was Nate's job to get the women clear, but when Kat didn't come out with Bella, he hesitated for only a moment.

"Vance, Kat isn't with Bella. She stayed inside." He whispered as his earbud transmitted to the others.

Hardison had equipped Vance and Matthew with earbuds for just them and they were also equiped with military comms for their backup. Nate and Matthew had managed to convince Sophie and Emma to stay in the van with Hardison and it hadn't really been that hard for them to agree since they knew this was going to be handled lik a military mission from here on out.

They had a better view inside the van with Hardison's monitors anyway, so they could warn anyone on the team if something came up they might not see.

"Damn." Vance replied as he listened to Nate. "Okay get Bella to the van and you stay there too, no arguments."

"Not arguing." Nate said as he pulled Bella along towards the main gate where Lucille was parked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat had guided Bella to the office door then quietly had turned back to help Eliot when she heard the first gunshot. She raced back around the corner just in time to see Eliot down holding his leg and Evan standing over him with a gun in his hand.

She hadn't seen a gun in his hand when they'd been facing each other talking. She was still a good 100 feet away as she watched Evan raise the gun again and aim at Eliot who just looked at the man standing over him.

_Damn it Eliot! Fight back!_ She mentally screamed as she broke out in a run. She pulled the gun from the waistband of her jeans where she'd hidden it upon entering the warehouse. Se and Eliot had left Sam with the SUV to tell Eliot's team what they had planned to do, so she had no one right now to help her get to Eliot.

She ran as fast as she could, but she couldn't stop the second gunshot as she watched Evan shoot Eliot again; this time in the chest. She was too late she thought as she saw Eliot fall back completely onto his back now, not moving. Damn him, he was letting Evan kill him. He wasn't fighting at all.

This couldn't be happening, she thought. "No!" She screamed as she came close enough to bring her gun up and point in front of her .

The man on Evan's right turned to her and before he could raise his gun she fired twice taking him down. The two men on Evan's left went down from bullets fired from an unknown source. She could only hope it meant that Eliot's team was here. She rushed past the man she'd shot and slid to her knees just in time to put herself between Evan and Eliot.

The man was aiming to take another shot at Eliot and she managed to push herself into his line of fire just as he pulled the trigger for the third time. She felt the bullet tear through her left side, but she managed to bring her gun up and fire two shots dead center of Evan's chest. She watched as everything seemed to moving in slow motion around her.

She'd killed two men and through it all, all she really saw was Eliot laying on the cold cement of the warehouse floor not moving. Not moving or breathing... Just as she felt her vision blurring around the edges she was suddenly aware of the overpowering smell of gunpowder that hung in the air around her. She reached out to touch Eliot but she couldn't be sure if she was touchng him as she felt her world tilt violently to her right. She was going to pass out and she didn't know if Eliot was alive or dead. She didn't know if she'd been too late to save him this time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Epilogue

Nate sat in the parked rental car across the street from the address Emma had given him. He didn't know for sure if the man would speak to him or not, but he needed to do this. He'd promised himself that if they got Eliot back and alive, he was going to do his best to fix this part of things.

He hadn't had a drink in two solid weeks since they'd gotten Eliot back, and while he knew it wouldn't last, he was certain he would be able to at least contol thing better.

He knew too well how much it cost a man to lose his son, and he wasn't going to sit by and let that happen again. He drew in a deep breath and got out of the car and walked acorss the street. He opened the gate and walked up to the front door of the modest ranch style house that had probably been here for forty years or so.

He raised his hand and knocked on the screen door and waited for the door to open. He could hear the sound of a televison or radio playing inside and soon he heard the sounds of movement as someone made their way to the door.

When the other man with the same blue eyes he looked at almost everyday answered the door, he smiled.

"Mr. Ford, I presume?" The man said lightly as he held the screen door open to allow Nate entrance to the house. "I didn't expect you to actually come all this way."

Nate held out his hand and when the other man slowly gripped it for the quick handshake, he could feel the slight tremors that the disease was causing the man and his body to fight against everyday. "I said I'd come, sir. And I hoped you'd be more willing to talk if you had to face me." The man smiled and Nate could see the resemblence right away then. At first the eyes were all that he'd thought the two men shared, but now seeing that smile, he knew this man probably smiled as rarely as Eliot himself did. Yes, the two did favor each other. "Shall we sit down and have that talk now, Mr. Spencer?"

The End


End file.
